Welcome to our latest update of information and stories you may be interested in... It has been a rough few days with the weather. While the majority of us were not affected to the extent predicted, this weather event did provide an opportunity to ensure our homes and our kindergartens are as safe as they can be to deal with any future events or natural disaster. A good thing! Here's to a peaceful weekend! Jane 
Additional Kindergarten Procedures The Senior Teachers are aware that there are a number of new procedures included in the Compliance Section of the Annual Review document. (see here) A document entitled “Expectations for Additional Procedures February 2018”, has been developed to support you in writing these new procedures. This document can be viewed here. If you have questions about these procedures or have identified procedures that have not been mentioned in this document, please contact your Senior Teacher. Ngā mihi, Senior Teacher Team
Kindergarten Banners and Flags We are trying to locate a number of our banners and flags that have been lent to kindergartens over the past months, and even years! We would appreciate it if you could have a wee look around your kindergarten to see if you have any banners or flags lying around. Please email Chanelle at chanelle.huia-rutten@wmkindergartens.org.nz who will arrange pick up for you. You can also email Chanelle to let her know if you are still wanting to make use of these items.
He Whānau Manaaki Kindergarten Association Men's Group The next get together for the men's group is as follows: Where: The Arborist Rooftop Bar Address: 166 Willis Street, Wellington CBD When: Friday 23rd March Time: 6.30pm All Welcome! For more details or if you wish to join the He Whānau Manaaki Kindergarten Association Men's Group facebook site please contact Adrian at adrian.smith@wmkindergartens.org.nz Government Announces Major Reforms for Whole Education Sector The government has announced wide ranging reforms in education which will include an early learning strategic plan and an action plan for learning support. Homebased education is also being reviewed. The government wants to engage with the sector to get broad agreement on the way forward, and will hold an education summit, probably in May. The Minister says each workstream will consider the impact for Māori and Pasifika learners, and those with additional learning needs . Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens is considering the implications of the reform process with other kindergartens through NZK – (New Zealand Kindergartens) and how we can engage with the processes. More information will be provided in later Kōrero editions. Here’s a link to the cabinet paper about the reforms:
Severe Weather Just to update you on the impact on our services of the storms over the past week: - Seventeen of our kindergartens and Etu Ao were disrupted – mainly because some members of each of the team were unable to travel;
- On Tuesday 20th, two kindergartens were closed – East Harbour and Paremata Kindergartens, due to potential flooding from high tides, and the transport runs were cancelled, due to potential high winds and flooding.
Thanks to those teams who did have disruptions because of the weather, the unpredictability of the cyclone/ex cyclone made planning very difficult. Every time we experience severe weather, we review what processes we did follow and what we could do to improve things. We welcome your suggestions. Thanks again for your flexibility and for “mucking in”. 
State Highway 1 between Pukerua Bay and Paekakariki – you can see why the road was closed and then down to one lane!
Finance Update - End of Month Infocare Cut-Off Next week is financial month end and we will be working on our February Board and Kindergarten reporting in the coming weeks. To help us with this, we would be grateful if you could have your Infocare records for the last week of the month (being the week ended Friday 2 March) completed by the end of the day on Monday 5 March. This means we would like you to complete the following tasks in Infocare up to and including Friday 2 March, as appropriate: - Sign in sheets marked in Infocare (actual attendance)
- Fee invoices created and committed
- Staff timetables (“staff hour count”) 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)
Please let Tania or Cathryn know ASAP if you expect there to be any delay with completing these tasks by the date indicated. Celebrating Pedagogical Practice On the 20th April between 9.30am and 1.00pm the Senior Teacher team is offering an opportunity for teams or individuals to share their pedagogical practice with colleagues to acknowledge and celebrate the great practices we, as teachers, offer to tamariki and whānau. This was a great opportunity last year for teachers and teams to hear and see what is happening in our kindergartens by our own teachers. You may want to share about Effective or Innovative Practice, Bush Programmes, Enviro Schools, or anything that is unique to your Kindergarten or your own practice. Topics from last year were: - Immigrant Teachers' Perspectives of a Treaty Based Curriculum
- Parent Support - An idea around supporting whānau well being, Pou Pikorua
- How We Developed Tiriti Based Practice
- Beach Kindergartens Presentation for Innovations PD from Plimmerton, Paremata, East Harbour and Raumati Beach
Each team or individual will have a 30 minute presentation slot to present their pedagogical practice, (20 mins to share and 10 mins to allow for questions). If you are interested in being part of this, please send a detailed outline and rationale of your presentation to Tania; tania.jack@wmkindergartens.org.nz for consideration by the 8th of March 2018.
Professional Development and Enrolments Through HR.Net We are pleased to confirm that all of the PD for Term 2 has been uploaded onto HR.Net, this will help you to plan all of the PD for the next term – hooray! We will be uploading Term 3 and 4 as soon as possible – so watch this space! Just a quick reminder to 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. We are aware that sometimes it can be tricky accessing or navigating HR.Net so have attached some screen shots here which will help you. If you still have any questions or you are having trouble enrolling onto a session please contact Hannah who will be happy to help you: hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz Helpful tips for HR.Net - Net only operates using Internet Explorer, you cannot use HR.Net using Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox your Smart Phone or Windows 10.
- If you receive a message saying your pop up blocker is on please find attached instructions on how to turn it off
- PD is loaded in HR.Net in year order, you can search 2018 and then the name of the PD for example
- 2018 First Aid
- 2018 Child Protection Course
- 2018 Kapa Haka
- PD for All Year and Full Day Kindergartens is loaded as
- 2018 ALL YEAR/FULL DAY (then the name of the PD)
Hannah, The Senior Teacher Team and Lupeni
Fun Times Thanks to the wonderful peeps of Tawa Central who lent Maraeroa Kindergarten their foam shapes for a couple of weeks. The children have had a great time exploring all their possibilities. Nga mihi nui ki a koutou. 
New Murals at Newtown Kindergarten 
Today we celebrated the installation of our lovely panels on our front fence, depicting our kindergarten kawa. Many thanks to the fantastic talent of the artist, Tony Farrier, and to Lou Fruean, our Kaitiaki O Kaupapa Māori, who helped us tremendously in choosing the right symbols to represent our kindergarten identity in accordance with kaupapa Māori. These panels came about because we wanted our kindergarten environment to reflect our unique identity as a kindergarten in Aotearoa and specifically in Newtown. We chose the backgrounds and the animals on the panels based on the geographical features in our pepeha, the values of our kawa and landmarks of our local community. 
Manaakitanga – hospitality, kindness, uplifting the mana of others Our river is the Waitangi River which flows under Newtown into the Whairepo Lagoon. The symbol of manaakitanga is the orca finding their favourite food, the eagle rays, and safe haven within the Whairepo Lagoon. 
Rangatiratanga – leadership, self-determination We chose the tui with its bold, territorial nature and its importance as one of the most common pollinators of our local flora. In the background is the lookout from Mount Victoria or Matairangi which is our mountain. 
Kotahitanga – unity and inclusiveness The Pukeahu National War Memorial Park is where we remember and reflect on this country's experience of war, military conflict and peacekeeping, and how that experience shapes our ideals and sense of national identity. The extinct huia and one of the most beloved living taonga of our nation, the kiwi, represent how we must learn from our past to preserve the unity of our present for future generations. 
Kaitiakitanga – guardianship of our environment We have chosen the Taputeranga Marine Reserve and the Island Bay Marine Education Centre as the background, symbol of our local community’s commitment to conservation. The kororā or Little Blue Penguin, a local resident, is a symbol of the need to protect and care for our environment as their numbers are on the decline where care has not been taken but stable or increasing where there has been commitment to their conservation.
Appointments and Resignations Congratulations to the following on their recent appointment: Kate Lambert, .5 Teacher, Parsons Ave Grant Swinton-Robertson, Teacher, Silverstream Gill Lamb, .6 Teacher, Berhampore Adrian Smith, Teacher, Johnsonville Rebecca Hathaway, Teacher, Matariki Felicity Fogarty, .6 Teacher, Ngaio Janine Middleton, Head Teacher, Masterton West Alice Cunningham, Teacher, Te Timatanga Hou Bronwyn Carson, .5 Teacher, Totara Park Michelle Lee-Joe, Teacher, Island Bay Rachel Young, .8 Teacher, Newtown Brooke Maxwell, .6 Teacher, Newtown Emma Matthews, Relieving .8 Teacher, Awatea (to 21 Dec 2018) Tu'u Mailo, Relieving .8 Teacher, Maraeroa (to 21 Dec 2018) Brittany Manawaiti, Relieving .8 Teacher, Raumati South (to 21 Dec 2018) Talapauna Sinatala, Relieving .2 Teacher, Toru Fetu (to 6 July 2018) Anne Simpson, Relieving Teacher, Toru Fetu (to 6 July 2018) We wish all the best to the following who have resigned: Lisa Heke-Baker, Head Teacher, Matairangi Jim O'Hara, Teacher, Owhiro Bay Makeleta Mohi, Teacher, Fanau Pasifika Nicola Venning, .65 Teacher, Karori Babette McCalman, Administrator, Khandallah Flora Shaba, Administrator, Seatoun Lesley Udy, Teacher, Waitangirua Kim Gavin, .4 Teacher, Petone
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