Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. It was great seeing you all at conference last week!
We trust you enjoyed it and look forward to getting your feedback via the survey below.
We hope the week of PLD leave last week provided opportunities to refresh your practice and we look forward to working with everyone through term 3. Jane 
Karen Knight Celebrates 30 years teaching at Birchville Kindergarten! 
For Whanganui Staff Click here to view the latest Mahi Tahi.
Conference Photos! 
We would love to see all of your photos from conference!!
If you have photos you’d like to share please follow the link through to dropbox where you can upload -https://www.dropbox.com/request/3G1yZeAzn6l2b7CpMtf5
😊
Speaking of Photos... When we are seeking permission for photos people are often concerned about using 'old' photos. However did you know, once we have permission from our parents to use a photo, that permission is considered valid forever!
It may seem odd, but with the nature of kindergarten, although children come and go, we continue using their photos for years to come, and this is ok!
We are often most interested in the message that the image conveys rather than the age of the photo. If we are requesting photos for a specific purpose, that would not usually apply and we tend to double check with families just to be sure. At the end of the day faces may change and children move on but the core of what we do stays the same 💕
Conference Evaluation Kia ora koutou katoa, WOW! Wasn’t our Conference ‘Mana Atua’ amazing! It was so great to see you all!
Thank you to everyone involved! To help us plan for next year’s Conference, we really need your feedback. Therefore, please click on the Survey Monkey link to complete the survey! Thank you!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YQHMZFZ . 
Growing up Muslim
Anjum Rahman who presented at our Mana Atua conference earlier this month has provided a link to a community page about growing up Muslim in Hamilton in the 1970s. She talks of her experiences about feeling different and lonely and how she felt marginalised by a teacher in the classroom. Many of her experiences are of their time, when there were fewer cultures represented in New Zealand, and less understanding of different regions and their practices. Click here to read her story.
Worm Farm Demonstrations for Whanganui Kindergartens Sustainable Whanganui has secured funding to provide worm farm demonstrations for children at kindergarten! There are two fun sessions to choose from, each lasting about 15-30 minutes: Worm farms - all about tiger worms, what they eat, how to keep them happy. How to set up and maintain your own worm farm. Recycling - very basic recycling for pre-schoolers.
To book a session, simply email Hadi. Sustainable Whanganui Trust Zero Waste Educator
Tūmanako - He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua as a Te Tiriti o Waitangi-based Organisation As discussed by Mandy at the staff conference, attached is the association’s paper: Tūmanako. It provides the foundation on which we will operate moving forward. An action plan is being developed and will be circulated to teams for feedback on 1 August. Although the attached paper was circulated several weeks ago, we are circulating it again, so that our Whanganui and Central Plateau colleagues can access it, and so that anyone else who may have missed it the last time can get a copy. The paper is also in the Storypark Toolbox, it’s in the plan called Te Ao Māori/ Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Extended parental leave and new housing rules take effect From July 1, new rules came into effect for landlords, meaning all rental homes have to meet minimum requirements for heating, insulation, venting, moisture and drainage and draught stopping. Housing New Zealand has until 2021 to meet the standards. Public health officials hope that these new standards should mean fewer hospital admissions from young children as a result of cold damp homes, although the effects could take some time to filter through. Also from July, paid parental leave has increased from 18 to 22 weeks, as part of a staged increase until 26 weeks paid parental leave takes effect next July. The amount paid has also increased, by 4.7 per cent, so eligible parents can now get $563.83 before tax.
Web pages for Whanganui Now that we have all of the Whanganui kindergartens added to our website, we want to make the most of your pages!
Jenny and Chanelle have been sifting through the web pages for the Whanganui kindergartens, to create consistency and to make them a bit more parent friendly, using less education jargon etc. They are keeping the text short, and keeping info that dates easily off the pages for now. If any changes are needed or kindergartens would like to add to their web pages, kindergartens are more than welcome to contact Jenny or Chanelle directly.
They can also add more photos/staff photos etc. Contact -
Jenny.davies@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Chanelle.huia-rutten@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Mana Atua conference successful Whānau Manaaki’s conference and whole staff meeting last week was highly successful with much positive feedback received at the office. It was great to be able to formally welcome our Whanganui region colleagues to our Association. Thanks to all those who helped make the conference run smoothly. We are seeking more feedback via electronic survey so make sure you take part. We are already planning to provide some PD based on the most popular sessions, and we will use further feedback for assessing other PD priorities. As videos, slides and papers become available from conference presentations we will make them available on Storypark on the Teachers’ toolbox.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Are there teacher shortages in ECE? Kia Ora, As National’s spokesperson for Early Childhood Education (ECE), I regularly visit ECE services and talk with teachers, owners and parents about the issues in the sector. The number one concern I’m hearing is about the growing shortage of qualified teachers. Unfortunately, the Government does not keep data on teacher shortages in ECE. That’s why I have launched a survey to collect data to back-up what I am hearing from the sector. I would appreciate it if you could take the time to fill out my short survey. Your responses will ensure we can better understand the extent of the challenge, the impact it is having and your ideas for addressing it. I will collate these responses and share this data with the Government. Fill out the survey here. Thank you for your work in the vital first years of New Zealand’s children. Your contribution makes a big difference to our country and it’s important your views are considered in Parliament. Kind regards, Nicola Willis MP National Party Spokesperson for Early Childhood Education
Children benefit from longer time in new entrant environments New research has shown that children born in the second half of the year in New Zealand do better in NCEA results, suggesting that longer time periods in new entrant classrooms benefits children. This supports other research showing pushing children into formal learning before they are ready is not a good idea in the long term. The award winning study by University of Canterbury economists Asaad Ali and Andrea Menclova has found that a child's chances of achieving University Entrance increase by about 5 per cent for every extra month spent in new entrant and year one classrooms. Children born in June spend longer in the new entrants because many schools leave them in that class for the year, before moving to year 1 the following year. Children born in May have the lowest chances of later achievement because they often go straight into Year 2 the next February, giving them about half a year less time in primary school than children born a month later.
Click here to read the Herald's article.
KTCA Proposed Settlement The Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa have reached a proposed settlement of the Kindergarten Teachers Collective Agreement, giving teachers an increase of up to 18.5 per cent by July 2021. The agreement covers teachers, head teachers and senior teachers but not administrative and support staff who have a separate agreement. Union members should receive an email about the proposed settlement, which they are asked to vote on by next Thursday (July 25). The terms of settlement retain pay parity with primary teachers, and incorporate the head teacher’s allowance into salary rates. After the ballot of members on the deal, Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens will provide more information to teachers about what happens next. Meanwhile, there has been a lot of publicity about the shortage of early childhood teachers generally and the need to lift pay rates for teachers outside of kindergartens. Some news stories have said that relievers are getting paid up to $45 an hour, but this is the rate paid to agencies, not what teachers actually receive. Here’s a link to a Stuff news story about pay parity for the rest of the sector.
Appraisal 2019 - 2020 It’s that time of year again, where you complete the Annual Appraisal Report with your appraiser and begin the next cycle of appraisal. The updated appraisal kit (Word Doc) is available here or on the Teachers Toolbox under the plan called Appraisal 2019-2020 'The Process' Teachers Toolbox or alternatively you can set up your own appraisal plan through your Kindergarten Storypark. You can also find the Rationale for WM model of observations here. 
Reading the appraisal kit, you will notice some small changes. There is a stronger emphasis on enquiry into practice and you will notice you can choose either an enquiry goal or an enquiry question. There has been clarification of 'What doobservations in practice look like for He Whānau Manaaki teachers'. This is included in the kit and there is an attached rationale of He Whānau Manaaki Model of Observations. Ongoing PLD will continue into 2020 around appraisal, including learning conversations, types of observations, and feedback/feedforward and how all of these weave together. Any questions about Storypark and the appraisal template contact lynette.wray@wmkindergartens.org.nz The Senior Teacher Team
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.
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