Welcome to our latest update of information and stories you may be interested in... Our AGM is coming up, remember to put it in your diary! We are looking for new board members. Please ensure you encourage your parents and whānau to consider a nomination for the board. There is more information below. Jane. 
Conference Survey Close Off Panoni - Celebrate! Challenge! Change! The Conference Survey will be closed off on Wednesday next week. Thank you to those who have already completed it. If you have not yet completed the survey this is the last opportunity to have your say. It is important to get your feedback which helps us when we are planning future conferences. You can access the survey by clicking here.
Attention All Leaders – HT’s, SHT’s, AHT’s & VT’s Don’t forget to complete your leader's survey that has been emailed to your personal work email address. Last day for getting this done is Monday 20th August – thank you.
Appraisal Appraisal is on top for many of us at the moment as we are in the thick of Annual Appraisal meetings and developing our Appraisal Goal Action Plans. We have updated the Appraisal Goal Survey for this year to include Support Staff as well as all teachers and the survey is now available by clicking here. All Head Teachers are asked to complete this by 31 August 2018. We use the information gathered through the survey to inform our Professional Learning and Development programme for the upcoming year. An area that we have had some questions around is how to set up your Appraisal Goal Action Plan on Storypark. The templates for this are available under your kindergarten’s ‘Planning’ section on Storypark, and we have developed two presentations that will support you to use these. Both presentations are available on the Appraisal Section of the Teachers' Toolbox (under the heading “Goal Action Plan”). The first one is called “Documenting Appraisal on Storypark” and the second one is called “Adding evidence to my Appraisal Plan”. Please click on this link to access the Appraisal section on the Teachers' Toolbox. If you have any further questions around using Storypark for your Appraisal, please contact Lynette: lynette.wray@wmkindergartens.org.nz or Tania: Tania.jack@wmkindergartens.org.nz
First Aid Refreshers  We have had a few teachers contact us to say they are unable to complete their First Aid Refresher Course on the dates on offer in the PLD Calendar. We do understand that it can sometimes be tricky juggling this with PLD and other things during term breaks. However, we have contracts and agreements in place with both the Red Cross and First Aid Specialists that our teachers will attend the refresher courses we schedule. On the odd occasion, when there is no other option, we may arrange a different course as a one-off for individual teachers. But this can really only be in special circumstances. Dates for First Aid refresher courses are confirmed at the beginning of the year and available in HR.Net to enrol into. Remember, you do have 3 months to complete a refresher course after your certificate has expired and reminders are sent from both HR.Net and Hannah. We have also just scheduled a course in January which we’ve never done before and hope this helps some of you. We are going to look into options for new venues in different parts of our region and we’ll let you know as soon as we can once we hear back from our providers on that. If you have any problems with scheduling or booking your First Aid refresher don’t hesitate to contact Hannah and we’ll work with you to find a solution – Hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz, ph 04 2323 069 ext 1. The details for First Aid Refreshers as follows 02/10/2018 Porirua Club (Fully Booked) 05/10/2018 Porirua Club (Spaces Available) 09/10/2018 Porirua Club (Spaces Available) 11/10/2018 Kapiti Operations Centre (Spaces Available) 17/01/2019 Silverstream Kindergarten (Spaces Available) AGM 
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Branded Clothing You may have noticed some of our people out and about in branded Whānau Manaaki clothing. We are now wanting to make this clothing available for all of our staff to purchase. Jan will be managing this process. The clothing items and prices are: Cap - $16 Beanie - $12 Cotton T - $19 Drifit T - $21 Hoodie - $53 Jacket - $130 Samples can be viewed at the upcoming Regional Meetings, at the Association Office or make contact with Jan for alternative arrangements jan.hannon@wmkindergartens.org.nz. There will be an order placed in early September after the last of the Regional Meetings. Thanks to the "models" from the office! 
Kindergarten Administrator Helps Win Historic Equal Pay Settlement Ministry of Education support workers have won a historic pay rise, and Whānau Manaaki administrator Mary Jones was one of those involved in the negotiations. Mary, who works at Lansdowne and York Street Kindergartens, also works as a communications support worker, working mainly one-on-one with children in schools and early learning services. She has been involved in the support workers’ claims through NZEI Te Riu Roa for 14 years, and was finally able to celebrate with afternoon tea with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern earlier this week. “It was really special, she’s really so friendly and she put us at ease” says Mary. “We even got to meet baby Neve.” The support workers will get pay rises of up to 30 per cent, and there will be guaranteed minimum hours, and a working party will look at career options for the group. There will also be a one-off payment of between $500 and $1500 for each person covered by the settlement. Currently suport workers are paid between $16.77 and $19.87 per hour, and the settlement will see the minimum hourly rate become $21.67, with those with more than 10 years experience on $25.70. The settlement follows the precedent set last year when aged care workers won an equal pay case. Mary says she’s had a lot of feedback from support workers, and says the pay rise will definitely be a big help for all those affected, but she says it’s not just the money. “It’s the feeling of being valued and appreciated.” Announcing the settlement earlier in the week, the Prime Minister said almost all education support workers are women, and they do vital work helping children to learn. “I am delighted to say they will finally be paid fairly for the crucial work they do.” Meetings will be held to ratify the settlement over the next month, and then support workers will be on the new rate. Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens put out a press release applauding the settlement, with Chief Executive Amanda Coulston describing it as long overdue. “Support workers do an amazing job working with our most vulnerable children. It is great to see them finally been paid a rate that is closer to what they are worth.” More support workers are desperately needed, Ms Coulston says, so more children and families can get the support they need to access early childhood education. NZEI Te Riu Roa is also pursuing equal pay claims for teacher aides in schools and for early childhood teachers, starting with trying to get pay parity for teachers across the sector. Many teachers in private ECE services get $21.50 an hour, regardless of length of service. 
Denise Tetzlaff and Mary Jones sign the pay equity agreement in Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office. 
Mary Jones speaking to the media after signing the agreement.
In Froebel's Words You may remember at conference we showed you the film In Froebel's Words, that had been gifted to us by Christina Rizos and Mark Anthony Steelsmith. The film clip animates two of Froebel's quotes about children. You can view or download the film here. Thanks Christina and Mark!
Fanau Pasifika Redevelopment Fanau Pasifika have had some major work happening at their kindergarten! For the last 6 weeks children from Fanau Pasifika have been attending either Arohanui or Te Timatanga Hou. When they return to their kindergarten everything will be looking brand new!! 
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What can older children learn from a whānau based programme? Children learn through teaching one another- older children learn how to master their skills when teaching younger children, they learn patience, a deeper understanding of how things work, they enjoy less competitive play, gain extra friends, and deeper relationships with whānau and others in the community. 
Una Williams inside activities during wet weather. 
Onslow Kindergarten is getting ready for their 40th celebration!!
Appointments Congratulations to the following on their recent appointments: | Charlene Lim | Teacher | Brian Webb | | Jacqui Bennett | Head Teacher | Brian Webb | | Kim Thompson | .5 Teacher | Totara Park |
Hot Tip  Do you have more mixture on the bench when making pancakes that in the bowl? Here is a nifty solution to reduce clean ups and to make those perfect pancakes. 
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