Nga mihi nui, nga mihi mahana ki a koutou. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa Welcome to 2020 - we hope you’ve had some time to enjoy whānau and friends over the Xmas/New Year period. 2020 is full of exciting possibilities for Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens and we are looking forward to working with you all. Mā te ahurei o te tamaiti e ārahi ā tatou mahi:
Let the uniqueness of the child guide our work. Jane.  Congratulations!
Congratulations to our Senior Manager, Lealamanu'a Aiga Caroline Mareko (our Aiga 😊) for being awarded a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit (MNZM) for services to the Pacific community and education in the New Year's Honours. A wonderful recognition of the significant work she has done over the years – and for years to come!
Finance Term 1 2020 Whanau Contributions Your families may be starting to ask about Term 1 requests for Whanau Contributions. Feel free to let them know that these will be emailed out on 31 January. Hard copies will also be delivered to kindergartens for distribution through “child pockets” in the following week. So that we have the most up to date information for our request letters can you please try and have all your children’s enrolment records in Infocare up to date by the end of day on Monday 27th January. Ministry of Education RS7 Reporting: Just a reminder that the Association has to report “RS7” information about your kindergarten to the Ministry of Education for the current funding period (1 October 2019 – 31 January 2020) by Monday 10 February 2020. All of the information we require is generated from your enrolment and staff timetable information in Infocare, so we need your help to ensure that all of this is complete and accurate. As with normal month end requirements can you please ensure that, for the all weeks in this funding period (which ends Friday 31 January), the following is completed in Infocare by 4pm Monday 3 February: - Sign in sheets marked in Infocare (actual attendance)
- Fee invoices are created and committed
- Staff timetables (“staff hour count”) are completed
- Online sign off of your monthly roll return
- Any ratio, attendance or roll issues are communicated to the Association (please call Tania or Cathryn)
If you have staff away can you please ensure arrangements are in place so that this deadline is met – this may mean that these tasks need to be completed by Teaching staff before the cut off. We will be reviewing your Infocare RS7 data so you may receive reminder emails or queries on Tuesday 4 February. No changes to Infocare for the 1 October 2019 – 31 January 2020 funding period will be able to be made after 4pm, Monday 3 February 2020. Kind regards. Brendon.
PLD 2020 Information Kia ora koutou katoa, Please find attached These are designed to help you with your planning and workload for 2020. All Staff Professional Learning and Development information for 2020 We will be distributing a PLD wall planner in next weeks Korero. Please check the Korero each week for any changes to PLD; a link to the Korero is: www.wmkindergartens.org.nz/korero The Term 1 PLD calendar is designed to provide more detailed information, so that you can make your PLD decisions and plan ahead. The PLD online calendar can also be accessed through Outlook 365. This is already uploaded to your Kindergarten e-mail system and can be accessed by clicking on the calendar icon which is usually on the bottom left hand side of your e-mail screen. The online calendar is constantly updated and will provide you with ‘real-time’ information, whereas the planner will only be updated each term. The link to the online calendar is: Online Calendar Please note that enrolments on HR.Net are now open and we encourage you to plan and enrol onto PLD in advance, in particular First Aid and Child Protection as it is compulsory to have a current certificate for both of these. If you are unsure about the currency of the First Aid or Child Protection, please email Karen Craig Please ensure that you enrol for all your choices of PD through HR.Net. These enrolments help us to plan for any additional seating etc., and also helps us to make sure that we have enough tea, coffee and kai to keep you going throughout the session! The other advantage of enrolling through HR.net is that it sends confirmation of course enrolment to both work and personal email addresses (if you have provided a personal email address). This process also means that you will receive additional emails if there are any changes to the PD regarding enrolment, venue or time. Unfortunately, enrolling through HR.net is not available for those of you working in the Whanganui and Central Plateau teams. Alternatively, you can enrol for PLDhere. If you have any issues, please email Karen Craig who will enrol you into your choices, and will send you confirmation of enrolment! Please ensure that you contact Karen to enrol as these help us to plan for any additional seating etc., and also helps us to make sure that we have enough tea, coffee and kai to keep you going throughout the session! If you have a general enquiry about PLD please email Hannah Toomaga The Senior Teacher Team, Hannah, and Karen
Online Teacher Registration The Teaching Council is moving to an online renewal system and all teachers will need to renew their practicing certificates online. Before this can happen, however, every teacher needs to get an Education Sector Logon, or ESL. This logon only needs to be obtained once, from the Ministry of Education. This form needs to be signed by an ESL delegated authoriser which in Whānau Manaaki’s case will be the Senior Teachers. To simplify this process Senior Teachers will bring these forms to kindergartens when they carry out annual reviews next year. Some teachers have already gained an Education Sector Logon, so will not need to be part of this process.
Big Heart Day 
Hold a Big Heart Day at your centre to support the Heart Foundations Big Heart Appeal! Big Heart Day is part of the Heart Foundation's Big Heart Appeal and will bring together your centre to celebrate what it means to look after your heart. It also helps the Heart Foundation to fund life-saving research.
Taking part in Big Heart Day counts towards achieving a Healthy Heart Award by engaging in fun activities around healthy eating and activity.
More more info and registration click here.
Congratulations!
Congratulations Kate on the arrival of your new bub Eddie! Kate is one of our teachers at Matariki Kindergarten. So many happy and wonder-filled times ahead for you! 
Diversity Calendar Each year Diversity Works put out a 'Diversity Calendar' detailing different cultural dates and celebrations for the year ahead! To download the calendar your can either visit their website here. Or download the calendar direct here. 
This Week on Facebook 
Appointments and Resignations Congratulations to the following on their recent appointment: | Petrina Gilligan | Teacher | Brian Webb | | Lisa Kareko | .8 Teacher | Doris Nicholson | | Lakshmi Menon | .7 Teacher | Johnsonville West | | Tracey Hickisey | Teacher | Papakowhai | | Amanda Phillips | Teacher | Silverstream | | Jo Redmond | Teacher | Tai Tamariki | | | | | | | | |
We wish all the best to the following who have resigned: | Rosie Reweti | Teacher | Papakowhai | | Meera Balaji | Teacher | Upper Hutt | | Balaji Somasundaram | Teacher | Silverstream | | Andrea Tinning | Teacher | Tai Tamariki | | Lizzy Ambrose | Teacher | Churton Park |
Previous Kōrero Editions If you are wanting to access previous editions of the Kōrero you can find them at www.wmkindergartens.org.nz/archive or you can click here. It is a good idea to save this link as an icon on your desktop.
Thank you for taking the time to read Kōrero. Don't forget to check out some of the stories listed down the side menu. Just click between the stories of use the Kōrero bar to come back to this page. | 
