Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. Our general election is on 19 September and we have information below to help whānau in your kindergarten ensure they are enrolled and eligible to vote. The latest statistics from the Electoral Commission indicate that overall 87% of eligible voters are enrolled to vote but the percentage of people under the age of 35 enrolled drops to around 78% and those under 24 drops to just over 61%. We encourage you to display this information in prominent places in your kindergarten and support your communities to fill in the forms either online or in paper form. Jane 
Dates For 2021 The yearly and termly dates have been confirmed for 2021. The calendars for our different groups of staff are available below. If you have questions about these dates you can contact karen.skett@wmkindergartens.org.nz.
Enrolments Into PLD Thank you to everyone that attended PLD over the term break, we really appreciated your patience as we worked through enrolling you all onto sessions. We are pleased to announce that you are now able to enrol onto PLD through HR.Net again. If you need any help logging into HR.Net please contact Hannah Toomaga hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz.
PLD Forms For Whanganui And Central Plateau Just a reminder for those kindergarten teams in the Whanganui and Central Plateau areas that you have your own forms for enrolling into PLD. Please ensure you complete these forms and forward them to Karen Craig at karen.craig@wmkindergartens.org.nz PD Enrolment Form Dietary Requirement Form
Relievers and Staff Sync Well done to all our relievers using Staff Sync this past week. We realise that it is a totally new way for some of you to receive relieving work in our kindergartens. Just a couple of reminders to get the best out of the App for you: - Don’t forget to keep your calendars updated when you are unavailable to work
- Please remember to reply back to the requests for work, even if you are unable to relieve that day. It is good to let the Reliever Co-ordinators know.
- Make sure that you have chosen the correct areas that you want to relieve in – please check this under the top right hand corner button – go to the magic button then press “My Account then “My Schools” and make sure your list of kindergartens is correct.
- Make sure you are receiving notifications and have your sound up on your phone. You can check for your notifications in “My Messages” – go to the magic button in the top right hand corner and then click “Account” then “My Messages”.
Please also make sure you let the Reliever Co-ordinator know if you have accepted pre-booked work from teachers – they will load the job in Staff Sync. If you have any questions please let us know; email Leigh on leigh.comeskey@wmkindergartens.org.nz and she can help you also Staff Sync are very helpful their number to call with any problems is: 0800 878 623
Finance Update Term 3 2020 Whanau Contributions Your families may have asked about Term 3 requests for Whanau Contributions. Feel free to let them know that these will be emailed out next Friday, 31 July. 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 27 July. End of Month Infocare Cut-Off A reminder that next week is financial month end and we will be working on Board and Kindergarten reports for the month of July. Your Infocare records for July are due to be completed on Friday 31 July next week. This means we would like you to complete the following tasks in Infocare, up to and including Friday 31 July, 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 Wellington Association Office (please call Tania on 04 232 3069 or 0800 546 337)
Tania will follow up with you if she has any questions related to your records. Draft June Kindergarten Reports We have almost completed production of your 30 June Year End Kindergarten reports and these will be distributed to you early next week. These will be subject to audit review so will be issued in Draft form next week. Once our auditors have completed their work on our 30 June Year End accounts and we have processed any adjustments required then we will issue your 30 June reports as Final, most likely later in August.
Maintenance Requests When requesting any maintenance at your kindergarten you are to do so using the GOSH online system. When you require maintenance at your kindergarten: Firstly, please refer to the Maintenance Flow chart for your area. The flow chart details the process for requesting maintenance and includes the names and contact details of the preferred contractors in your area. The Maintenance Flow charts are available on GOSH in the Key documents section and on the Whānau Manaaki website www.wmkindergartens.org.nz/staff Please note that with all urgent and essential maintenance, the kindergarten must contact the contractor directly and then complete the Kindergarten Maintenance Request form in GOSH. When requesting maintenance please use the Kindergarten Maintenance Request form which can be found in the What would you like to report? section on GOSH. If you have any questions, please contact Lupeni.Aitogi@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Ukulele: Expression Of interest Kia ora koutou kātoa, There has been a lot of interest in setting up Ngā Ukurere Pēpi for kaiako in the Wairarapa region. Therefore, if you are interested in committing to this exciting opportunity, please contact me directly via email at catha.ritchie@wmkindergartens.org.nz by Wednesday 29 July. Like the Petone Ngā Ukurere Pēpi, we will meet monthly with the venue and time to be confirmed. Once numbers are confirmed, these sessions will go in the PLD calendar and HR.Net to enable you to enrol. I look forward to sharing in this creative, challenging and guaranteed to be fun, musical learning experiences! Ngā mihi mahana nui Catha
Te Manawanui Kindergarten Blessing From Shannon Preschool to Shannon Kindergarten, to Te Manawanui Kindergarten. The creation of the new name came from iwi, kōhanga, whānau and hāpori kōrero, chosen from several name ideas, as it reflected the kindergarten being the heart of the hāpori. The design of the new tohu, to represent the new name, came about from Te Ronganui, a dad, who sat one day in the kindergarten and drew several beautiful concepts. The chosen tohu, and name, were blessed and unveiled by Pa Wylie on Monday, in a celebration with Shannon School, kōhanga and other guests.  
Election 2020 - Make Sure Your Families Are Enrolled To Vote  Even though the scandals of the past week may have put you off politics, it is really important for the future of our country that people take part in the democratic process, and vote in the election. As kindergartens we can help make sure all our families are on the roll. At the upcoming Head Teacher meetings we will start distributing information for you to display at your kindergarten, and for you to support your families to get on the electoral roll. There are lots of posters, in Māori and English, that you can display. Some of the materials are also available in other languages. People can either enrol online or can fill in forms. Kindergarten ipads or laptops can be used to support people to enrol online. Here’s the link to the community resources. and here’s the link to enrol online. For kindergartens in high visibility areas we will be providing banners to put along your fence line. We want to encourage people to think about the interests of young children when they vote. We will be informing you of relevant policies as these are released from the different parties. If you have any queries about the enrolment process or need support, email jenny.davies@wmkindergartens.org.nz.
Pacific Action Plan The Ministry has launched a new Pacific Action Plan to cater better for Pasifika children, students and their families, for education from early childhood through to secondary school. The video, which features Whānau Manaaki’s Toru Fetu Kindergarten, makes it clear that a shift in thinking and practice is needed. Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens has been involved in forming the plan, which is for ten years from 2020 to 2030. Its priorities include partnering with families to meet their aspirations, enabling teachers to become culturally competent with Pacific learners, confronting racism in education, growing and valuing Pacific teachers and working on Covid 19 issues. Here’s a link to the video about the plan. And here’s a link to the full plan in English. There are summaries of the plan in different Pasifika languages.
Early Childhood Education – What Needs To Change? Early childhood education has been in the news this month, with articles suggesting the system is at breaking point, with stressed teachers working long hours for low pay, and children in overcrowded noisy environments. The unfettered expansion of centres, leading to competition for children and low occupancy rates causing financial stress for services is also part of the mix. Issues canvassed include ratios and group size, age of children and regulations, as well as teacher well-being. Here’s a link to one article about teacher stress. Meanwhile, the Child Poverty Action Group has called for early childhood education to be nationalized from a largely private system into a state early education system like many countries in Europe offer, so that children, rather than profits, are the focus. Here is a link to that item. Sue Cherrington, a Victoria University academic, has written an opinion piece calling for teachers to be paid nationally, like teachers in the school sector. You can read that here. These recommendations are broadly in line with Whānau Manaaki’s position, which is that all teachers should be covered by a national collective agreement setting professional pay and conditions, and that the education system should provide affordable accessible community-owned services for every family.
Chair Available For Borrowing Carterton kindergarten purchased this chair for one of their children who used a wheelchair. It enabled this child to be at the other children's level so they could interact with him during the day. The team are happy for other kindergartens to borrow this chair if they have a child with similar needs. Please get in touch with them directly. 
Changes To The Outdoor Area At Awatea Exciting times at Awatea as builders were putting the finishing touches to the new double slide and rock wall in the outdoor environment. Both were completed in time for the start of Term 3 on Monday. 
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