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Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero.  

Registrations opened for conference on Monday.  Some of the sessions are already full, see below for details.   Registrations will close on Friday 21 June.

There are also some instructions on how to fix common errors in HR.Net when enrolling. 

          Jane.

Mana Atua

He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Staff Conference 2019

Update No 6

We are excited to welcome you to the sixth Conference update! There will be further news, information and guidance each week in the Kōrero, so you may want to print this off each week so you have a record of it for the whole team.

We look forward to welcoming you to this year’s annual Staff Conference on 8 and 9 of July.

The theme of this year’s Conference is – Mana Atua.

Non-teaching staff

The Staff Conference begins at 8.30am for non-teaching staff on Monday morning 8th July. A Conference Keynote speaker and a variety of workshops will take place for Homebased TONI Educators, Community Navigators, Transport Teams, Teacher Aides and Administrators. All non-teaching staff are warmly invited to attend and then to stay on for the whole staff meeting in the afternoon. If you live north of Waikanae or in the Wairarapa, you will also be able to access hotel accommodation on the Sunday night – see below for further details.

Whole Staff Meeting

The compulsory Whole Staff Meeting will be held on Monday, 8 July starting at 12.45pm at Te Papa in Wellington.  All teachers, kindergarten based students and office staff are required to attend and all other staff strongly encouraged to attend. We are very excited to announce that the Key Note speaker this year is Gilbert Enoka who has for the past 16 years been the Mental Skills Coach for the All Blacks and will be sharing his own personal story as well as the transferrable strategies he uses in his work.

Teachers Conference

The Teachers Conference will take place on Tuesday, 9 July at Te Papa in Wellington, beginning with a prompt start of 8.00am. More details regarding content will be available in future editions of the Kōrero.

Please see the Kaupapa for Day 1, July 8 and Day 2, July 9 below.

Car Parking

Te Papa offers a special function attendees rate of $12.00 from 6.00am to 6.00pm and an evening special of $8.00 from 5.00pm to 2.00am the next day. There is a car parking validator machine available at the registration desk in the Angus room.  Bring your ticket in and pass it through the machine, then when you go to a pay station on departure the special function attendees rate will apply.

Water bottles

Due to our ongoing commitment to sustainability we will not be providing bottled water in the Conference bags. Water stations and paper cups will be available throughout the venue; therefore we encourage you to bring your own water bottles.

Conference Lunch

Lunch will be provided by the Association using the Te Papa caterers and will be served in the Oceania room. In response to feedback from 2018 Conference, lunch will now be served over two sittings, this allows everyone to have room to enjoy lunch more comfortably. Your Conference tag will identify which sitting you are in.

Therefore, it is important that you only attend the lunch sitting you have been allocated; for example Kākāriki group will have lunch at 11.30am and the Kahurangi group will have lunch at 12.40pm.

Mid winter celebration

We are aware that it can be difficult for staff who live outside of the Wellington area to attend our end of year celebration.

Therefore, this year we are inviting all staff to our celebration at Mac's Bar on Monday July 8, after the Staff Meeting at 5.00pm to 9.00pm.

This is a wonderful opportunity to mix and mingle with each other. We will be providing kai and subsidised drinks, and there will be music along with a photo booth, and flower wall so you can take photos to remember the celebration!

Please RSVP for the celebration as part of your Conference registration, we look forward to seeing you there!

Conference Registration

Registration for workshops and key presentations opened on Monday 10 June through HR.Net.

Please note that each staff member must enrol into HR.NET themselves using their personal login details. Therefore it is important that you check that your personal login for HR.Net is working before registration opens.

If you are experiencing any difficulties please contact Hannah To’omaga by email on Hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz and she will be happy to help you.

If you are a relieving teacher please contact Hannah To’omaga by email on Hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz with your choices and she will enrol you.

Registration for workshops and key presentations for Mana Atua Conference 2019!

For this year’s Conference each teacher will have the choice of:

• 1 x workshop in either a 11.30am time slot or a 12.40am time slot (this choice will determine which lunch sitting you will attend)

               and

• 1 x key presentation in either a 1.45pm time slot or a 3.00pm time slot

Please note: you will automatically be enrolled into the main Keynotes. The workshops and key presentations are as below, however, you can also print them off here.

Each Teacher to choose one of the following workshops:

Workshop A: Te Kahu Rolleston - Session full

Te Kahu is From Tauranga Moana. He is passionate about the power that words have, to educate heal and inspire action. Out of the things he has done, Te Kahu says he gets the most joy from the change he can see in young people within an hour. Young people go from shy and scared to share. To confident and looking like they have just climbed a Maunga. “This is real fruit of the mahi”. Sharing a skill with people that they can use after he leaves, is something he finds to be much more special than just speaking or performing.

Te Kahu has won the National spoken word poetry slam. In 2016 he travelled to Guam for the world Pacific Festival, where he won the Inter Island Spoken word poetry slam. He has run spoken word poetry workshops and performed at hundreds of places all over Aotearoa and a few places overseas also. These include a bunch of international conferences, over a hundred schools, rangatahi groups, Kohanga, universities, education institutions, Pacifica festival, Ahi Ka Festival, Te Ra o Te Raukura Festival, Newtown festival. He has also completed the Banff world indigenous arts centres writer’s residency in Canada. Te Kahu has a goal of making learning fun for all ages by mixing learning with his passion for words.

Workshop B: Logo Grainger

Logo and his wife Vanessa work within the Porirua community alongside people to identify their health issues and work with them to better their health and lifestyle.

This is not done by telling people what they can or cannot eat, but by educating them on the effects of food, and what it actually does to our bodies. Our aim is to empower people to make informed choices about food. Our goal is to ensure lifestyle advice given is always specific to the person/family’s needs so they can obtain the results they want and deserve! At ‘Ai ia ola – Eat to live’ we provide researched and up-to-date nutrition information, regular assessment, accountability and encouragement to help people stay on track.

This workshop will discuss the work we do and provide attendees with strategies and information to address their own health and well-being.

Workshop C: Wiremu Sarich

Areare Ngao - 

Channelling mauri through play a practical guide to incorporating maramataka and atuatanga in Early Childhood centres.

Wiremu will share his vast knowledge of indigenous games and offer rich insights into utilising games to enhance your understanding of Te Ao Maori (indigenous world view).

Participants will engage with and or make various implements of play. We will learn key concepts for traditional use of games for environmental awareness that you can personalise to suit the needs and desires of your centre.

Workshop D: Jason Te Patu - Session full

Jase Te Patu is from Ngāti Apa, Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāti Tūwharetoa. He has been teaching in the health and wellness sector for 27 years. Jase’s students include the All Blacks, the Hurricanes, the Pulse, the NZ School of Dance contemporary students and many more high-performance athletes.

Jase is the creator of M3 Mindfulness for Children, and Co-owner of AWHI Yoga and Wellbeing. Now more than ever before, a spotlight has been shone on the mental wellbeing of our tamariki. Jase's programme ensures that our young tamaiti grow up learning simple mindfulness tools that will allow them to create better choices for themselves in times of challenge. Jase uses the model of Hauora - or Te Whare Tapa Whā to instil some long lasting habits that may have a profound effect on the overall health and wellbeing of our young ones now... and into the future!

Workshop E: Anjam Rahamn MINZM

Anjum Rahman is a chartered accountant with over 25 years’ experience, working with a range of entities in the commercial, farming and not-for-profit sectors. 

Anjum was a founding member of the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand, an organisation formed in 1990 to bring Muslim women together and represent their concerns. Over the years, she has been Chair, secretary, and for many years, the media spokesperson. She has also been a founding member and trustee of Shama (Hamilton Ethnic Women’s Centre), a social service organisation that provides support to ethnic women through its social work service, life-skills classes and community development. She is a founding member of the Campaign for Consent Waikato, an organisation working on sexual violence prevention, and in that role, has been involved a number of programmes to raise community awareness. The organisation has been working on setting up an agency network to co-ordinate activities within Hamilton, as well as pushing for research into the prevalence and impact of sexual violence in ethnic communities.

Anjum has been an active member of the Waikato Interfaith Council for over a decade, a trustee of the Trust that governs Hamilton’s community access broadcaster, Free FM, and a trustee of the Ethnic New Zealand Trust. The latter undertakes projects to promote awareness of human rights within the community. Along with these roles, she writes poetry, is a member of the interfaith choir, and is a mother of two.  She takes on various public speaking engagements on a voluntary basis. Her favourite activity, for reasons which should be evident, is sleeping.

Each Teacher to choose one of the following key presentations:

Key Presentation 1: Diane Mara MNZM

Dr Diane Mara after spending many years working within research, policy development and teaching is a consultant in Pacific education and community development. She has just completed her work as a Senior Lecturer for Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand in Hastings in December 2017.

Diane is currently working with Heretaunga Free Kindergarten in professional support in meeting the needs and interests of Pacific children and their families. In her wider community involvements Dr Mara is the Chair of Hawkes’ Bay IHC Association, a member of the NZ Member Council of IHC, Deputy Chair of the Hawke’s Bay DHB Consumer Council, Chair of Tiare Ahuriri of Pacific Women’s Council, and the Chair of the Napier Family Centre, a social services provider in the Hawke’s Bay Region.

Key Presentation 2: Jeanette Grace

Jeanette Grace (Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Toa Rangatira and Ngāti Koata) is Dean of Te Wānanga Māori at Whitireia Community Polytechnic in Porirua. She has a background in Mental Health and Addictions and Indigenous Training and Education and has served on a number of Boards, including past Chair of Ngāti Koata Trust, Te Putahitanga o Te Waipounamu, Te Mana Whakahaere o Te Wānanga o Raukawa and is currently on the Te Wānanga o Raukawa Foundation.

Key Presentation 3: Ritchie Hardcore

Richie Hardcore is a board member at White Ribbon New Zealand, Ministry of Social Development ‘It’s Not Ok’ Champion, working to end men’s violence against women. He is an educator and public speaker, focusing on exploring masculinity and ending rape culture, sexual and family violence.

He also speaks passionately about mental health and wellness, and as a former alcohol and drug harm reduction community worker, on how we can address alcohol and drug issues in our society. His experiences working with professional and amateur Muay Thai fighters, and in social and community advocacy, has given Richie a real insight into issues facing New Zealanders  – homelessness, the justice system, violence and anger issues, mental health issues and drug and alcohol dependency.

Conference Registrations and HR.Net

We understand that some of you are experiencing problems trying to register for conference, specifically not being able to see the session boxes.  There may be a compatibility issue with internet explorer on your computer.   Click here for detailed instructions on how to fix this.

You may also have received an email from HR.Net saying your workshop has not been saved, this is because the session you have tried to enrol in is full.  Please follow the instructions in that email to complete your registration, do not try to re-register from scratch.

Continuing Our Look At Whanganui’s Kindergartens

Last week we talked about the hub, the three kindergartens, on the western side of the city who have joined together to collaborate and share strengths and activities and build the community. Today we look specifically at Barsanti, one of the kindergartens in that hub, as well as looking at Maxwell and District Kindergarten.

Barsanti Team Leader Ngarita says their kindergarten has strong links across generations within the community and have whānau, who not only attended the kindergarten themselves, but their mokopuna also attend the kindergarten.


Last term the kindergarten experienced a flood however they chose to use that event as an opportunity to bring their community together through a karakia ceremony, celebrating their physical return to the kindergarten.

Whanaungatanga is the essence of their whare, this can be seen through the amazing manaakitanga from tamariki, whānau and kaiako.

As part of the hub Barsanti are fortunate to have the support of Marie McFarland and Gonville Kindergartens.

Maxwell and Districts Kindergarten, north of Whanganui, is a small rural kindergarten with 20 children attending each day.

Head teacher Katherine says some families travel up to an hour, and they often stay for a while, catching up with friends and neighbours, so the kindergarten is a real social hub.

“We love that – it’s very family oriented, it would be unusual not to have a family staying” says Katherine.

The kindergarten has a close relationship with Ngā Rauru, the local iwi, and has been involved in a  research project with five local schools and the Kohanga. It has produced an action plan, Te Koo Iwi Roa, that the kindergarten is putting into action to achieve the iwi aims for children, to be successful, to value their identity and to have strong knowledge of te ao Māori.

The curriculum includes knowing local history and recognising the importance of places such as Mount Taranaki and the Waitotara River. Maxwell Kindergarten has local resources to share with children and families, including a book about each marae in the region.

The kindergarten has worked hard to develop strong relationships with local schools, even though they are some distance away.  Kindergarten children join the schools for events like pet days, cross country and community celebrations.

Katherine says it’s really heartening when families travel back to kindergarten for evening celebrations, despite the distances, to attend events like matariki and disco nights. It shows they value the kindergarten and its community.

Maxwell Kindergarten is open 50 weeks of the year, to meet the needs of the families. 

The Film “Celia”    

Thanks to everyone who viewed the film “Celia” at our regional staff meetings (RSMs). 

Viewing it at RSMs was to provide the opportunity for whole teams to see it together so that you could reflect on the messages as a team over subsequent weeks, and also to enable you to reflect on it individually as a professional. It would be great for your team discuss what key messages each of the team took from the film, what could this mean for my/our teaching practices, partnerships with whānau or whatever key messages were meaningful for you.

As we said in our introduction to the film, the topics were challenging and may have impacted on you personally. We reiterate that as a team, please look after each other, and should you require additional support, please let us know. 

Below are contacts you may also wish to access:

• Helplines and local mental health service booklet
• Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time for support from a trained counsellor
• Lifeline 0800 543 354 or 09 522 2999 or free text 4357 (HELP)
• Suicide Prevention Helpline 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOK0)
• Youthline 0800 376 633 or free text 234
• Samaritans 0800 726 666.

Office Staff Profiles

This week we take a look at our Visiting Teacher team.

Carly, Lofi and Raewyn are our Etu Ao Visiting Teachers.

The visiting teachers support our 45 TONI Educators who are providing care and education for over 110 children who are enrolled in our Etu Ao homebased service.  During the day the team can be found meeting with the educators and children in the home as well as supporting the playgroup co-ordinators at Nuanua, Katoa and Toru Fetu.  They also facilitate professional development opportunities for the educators.

Beanies For Transport Children

We were extremely lucky during the week to take delivery of 90 knitted beanies for the children on the transport run.

Judy, who is mum to Scott, one of the drivers in the transport team, knitted the beanies with scraps of wool she had been given and bought them in to the office during the week so we could give them to the children.  A massive thank you!

Look out for a photo in a future edition of the children in the vans wearing their new and colourful beanies. 

Men In Early Childhood

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Run Wild My Child is your destination for all things kid-friendly and outdoorsy. This website is dedicated to getting kids outside and back to nature, one adventure at a time!

Previous Kōrero Editions

If you are wanting to access previous editions of the Kōrero you can find them at 

www.wmkindergartens.org.nz/archive

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