Welcome to our latest update of information and stories you may be interested in... There are lots of things to celebrate in this week's Kōrero from graduations to finalists in the Prime Minister's Education Excellence Awards to celebrating service. We love hearing these stories. Jane. 
Change Of Venue The Regional Staff Meeting for Full-Day Pasifika Kindergartens has had a change of venue. This meeting will now be at Toru Fetū Kindergarten on May 28th from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
Samoan Language Week 
Talofa Lava! Samoan Language Week / Vaiaso o le Gagana Sāmoa is being held from Sunday 27 May – Saturday 2 June 2018. Our theme for this year is: “Alofa atu nei. Alofa mai taeao – Kindness given. Kindness gained”. Supporting Proverbs E maota tau’ave, mamalu tau’ave Samoa - The essence of being Samoan accompanies Samoans. E le tauilo tama a Tausala - Great mothers rear great human beings. E iloa ‘oe i lau gagana - Your language speaks volume of you A malu i fale, e malu i fafo - Respect yourself and others will too |
O le gagana e la’ei ai le aganu’u - Language characterises the essence of culture Click here to find out what events are being held in your area and for more informaiton. See also information posters by clicking on the item on the left.
Content Bank As mentioned in last weeks Kōrero Chanelle will be sending out your content bank of photos over the next week so that you can double check to ensure we have permission to use photos of the children. Once you’ve received the content bank could you please let Chanelle know if there are any photos of children who do not have permission for photos. It’s important to remember children come and go from our kindergartens all the time so it’s almost impossible to maintain current photos. Please do not be surprised if there are a few photos of children who have left the kindergarten, these are still valid with us so long as we had permission at the time the photo was taken.
Congratulations Toru Fetu Kindergarten!! 
Toru Fetu Kindergarten have been selected as finalists for the Prime Minister's Education Excellence Awards! Finalists were selected from 127 entries. The judges are visiting the finalists during May and June and the winners will be announced at the ceremony in July. Tino pai rawa atu! Check out the finalists here.
Taitoko/Kere Kere Kāhui Ako Last night many of our Whānau Manaaki Teachers from Levin attended the Taitoko/Kere Kere Kāhui Ako with Chrissy from Leap Education and the two Leaders - Moira Howard Campbell (Taitoko Kāhui Ako) and Murray Powell (Kere Kere Kāhui Ako). The Leaders were excited to see and hear how ECE can be involved in their local Kāhui Ako. 
Learnings From ERO A BIG thank you to all of those teachers from the full year kindergartens who attended the Saturday professional development day earlier this month. Lyn Wright shared her insights and learning from her time at ERO and then Allie Mooney who is a professional keynote speaker, entertained and alerted us to the different styles of communication amongst us. Both were well received and teachers appreciated the opportunity to attend PD as whole teams. The next full year PD is planned for Saturday 21st July 9am – 1pm, at Mana Cruising Club. Glenda Rowe will be presenting on the new code of teaching standards and Jo Cox will be presenting on Te Whariki 2017. We look forward to and are anticipating another informative day. More information to be emailed out soon! 
Facebook Is A Great Way To Profile Your Kindergarten  Just a reminder that Facebook is a great free way to promote your kindergarten. It offers a chance to advocate for high quality early childhood education within your parent community and in the wider community as well. It is also a great way to communicate with your parents and make visible the learning that is happening. You can use Facebook posts as evidence of meeting teaching requirements, such as advocating for children, promoting children’s wellbeing etc. You can use Facebook to share advice and information with your parents, to advertise free or low cost community or educational events and to celebrate cultural events. Whānau Manaaki recommends posting between one and three times a week, to make the most of your Facebook page. You can often share Whānau Manaaki facebook posting on your kindergarten page, but also showcase something from your own programme each week. If you want to talk about the use of Facebook, Chanelle at the Whānau Manaaki office is here to help.
This Week On Facebook 
Children from Paremata Kindergarten got to explore the local marine environment. 
Raumati Beach Kindergarten had the three little pigs come to visit! 
Island Bay Kindergarten held a fundraiser quiz night.
Relievers And Leave We have a few messages for you: Release Days Even with our new Itinerant Relievers, we are still struggling to find relievers some days, in some areas. Mondays and Fridays are particularly hard, for a few reasons, and so it is appreciated if you can do your best to avoid booking your release days (such as Head Teacher release) on those days. Part-day, Late-start Relievers As we’ve said, we are still quite pressured for relievers in some areas and sometimes, if requests come in late, there may not be a reliever available. We know this can be tricky for teachers who work part-time and don’t start until later in the day, or when the reliever isn’t needed until later in the day. When you know you will need a reliever later in the day, its advisable to get your request to Nicki or Dhanaye early if you can in the morning (after 6.30am). Nicki Cook on Leave Just a headsup that Nicki, Reliever Coordinator, will be on leave Friday 1 June and Tuesday 5 June (Queen’s Birthday weekend) – she’s having a well-deserved long, long weekend. Those kindergartens who work with Nicki for relievers will need to find their own urgent relievers those two days; we will send a list closer to the time. In the meantime, you can contact Nicki in advance if you know you will need a reliever on those days.
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 February 2018 – 31 May 2018) by Friday 8 June 2018. 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 1 June, the following is completed in Infocare by 4pm on Friday 1 June: - 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 your support staff are unavailable to work on Friday 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 5 June. No changes to Infocare for the 1 February 2018 – 31 May 2018 funding period will be able to be made after 4pm, Tuesday 5 June.
Celebrations At Ngahina This week Ngahina had a shared morning to share and celebrate some of the changes in their environment and also acknowledge one of their parents Lissie who designed the original kindergarten logo and Kowhaiwhai Panels for the new wharenui area. The team also used this opportunity to thank volunteer readers from Coastal Villas and MetLife Care who read to the children 3 times a week. 
Celebrating New Graduates In Our Teaching Teams 
Bronwen Carson wore her graduation gown to Totara Park Kindergarten to show the children last week before attending being awarded her teaching degree from Victoria University. “The kids loved it - one child wants to be a teacher so I really wanted to show him” she says. Bronwen is now teaching at the same kindergarten she attended as a child. She always wanted to be a teacher, but “fell into” event management and conference organising. It was a big sacrifice to make the switch, but she has a real sense of achievement and she thrived on the study. “I can finally say I love my job.” 
Georgina Warren at Pikopiko Clyde Quay also graduated with a Bachelor of Education last week. She says it’s great to have finished, and she was pleased that her graduation parade went ahead on a wet week when the others were cancelled. Georgina completed a student placement at Pikopiko, and is enjoying returning as a qualified teacher. “The team is awesome. The kids, families and community here are really good. “ 
Rachel Watson who is teaching at Brian Webb Kindergarten studied with Georgina and Bronwen, and she says taking part in the parade was an amazing experience. Rachel had her final placement at Brian Webb, and says she’s loving being back as a teacher. “I love watching the children growing and learning – that’s really cool to see.” 
Emma Matthews also graduated last week, with a graduate diploma from Victoria. She says the course was intense, but provided a really good mix of theoretical and practical work. Emma is teaching at Awatea Kindergarten, and is loving working in the Porirua community, in a not for profit service. Emma says she is really lucky to have obtained a kindergarten job, where she has lots of support from a tightly knit team to work through her registration. There’ll be more graduation news in next week’s Kōrero. Farewell Julie Julie Crawley’s farewell last week was a lovely opportunity for colleagues to thank her for the huge contribution she has made over the last 25 years to tamariki, whānau and to those colleagues she has worked alongside. There were some tears and lots of laughter as teachers joined to wish her well on her new adventure. 
Conference Update Welcome to the third Conference update, there will be further news, information and guidance in weekly editions of Kōrero. We look forward to welcoming you to this year’s annual All Staff Conference on the 9thand 10th of July! The theme of this year’s two day Staff Conference is - PANONI - Celebrate! Challenge! Change! The All Staff Conference will once again be held in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, on Cable St in Wellington City. He Whānau Manaaki Staff Conference information. Non-teaching staff The All Staff Conference begins at 8.30am for non-teaching staff on Monday morning 9thJuly. A Conference Key Note speaker and a variety of workshops will take place for Homebased TONI Educators, Community Navigators, Transport Teams, Teacher Aides and Administrators. All non-teaching staff are warmly invited to attend and then to stay on for the whole staff meeting in the afternoon. Whole Staff Meeting The compulsory Whole Staff Meeting will be held on Monday, 9thJuly starting at 1.00pm at Te Papa in Wellington. All teachers, kindergarten based students and office staff are required to attend and all other staff strongly encouraged to attend. Teachers Conference The Teachers Conference will take place on Tuesday, 10 July at Te Papa in Wellington, beginning at 8.00am, with a prompt start of 8.30am. More details regarding content will be available in future editions of the Kōrero. Conference Registration Registration for workshops will open early in June through HR.Net, confirmation of dates for registration will be given in in future Kōrero editions. Please note that each staff membermustenrol into HR.NET themselves using their personal login details. Accommodation We will once again provide accommodation for staff who are attending the Conference and live in Waikanae or further north, or in the Wairarapa. Accommodation will be booked for the night of Monday 9thJuly with the cost of the room will be paid for by the Association. To organise your accommodation please e-mail Lorraine Coulston at lorraine.coulston@wmkindergartens.org.nz before Friday 1stJune 2018.
More Budget News In case you missed the email to all staff about the budget, you can read it on the news section of our website here. In summary, there was a slight increase in operational funding, to take effect next year, but it was not nearly as much as what many in the sector were hoping for. The increase in funding for learning support was more substantial and will make a greater difference for services. The budget also included the establishment of a Child Wellbeing Unit, to be funded by Oranga Tamariki, to develop government strategy to improve child wellbeing. It will seek public views on policy priorities for the strategy later this year. The budget also included funds to set up a child poverty reduction unit with the Prime Minister’s Department, to track progress and to coordinate changes. The Prime Minister says the government wants to make New Zealand “the best place in the world to be a child.” The budget also included extra funding for Statistics New Zealand to improve the household economic survey, so it will go to 20,000 households instead of 3500-5000, which will make the data more accurate and give a better picture of different groups in society. Government statistician Liz MacPherson says this will help the government meet its child poverty reduction targets. “Stats NZ will have improved data at a regional level. We will also have data about Māori and other groups, which will enable better support for families. This data will help agencies, the government of the day, and the public to understand whether policies are helping to reduce the number of children in poverty.”
Mental Health And Addiction Services Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens met with members of the government’s advisory panel on mental health and addiction last week to discuss issues we see in our communities affecting our children. Panel members Dr Jemaima Tiatia-Seath and Josiah Tualamali’i were at the meeting at Maraeroa Marae. The inquiry is looking into what’s needed to improve mental health and addiction services. Our submission spoke of the need for counselling for young children who have witnessed traumatic events such as removal from families, drug raids and arrests, death from drug overdoses, and violence. It spoke of the effect on families and children of unmet mental health needs and lack of services for those with drug addictions seeking treatment. Here’s a link to our submission. Others speaking to the panel spoke of the need for Pasifika-oriented mental health services to meet the mental health needs of Pasifika people. There are more chances to meet with the panel, which is keen to hear from anyone with relevant experience in the mental health or addiction area. Submissions close on June 5. Here’s a link to the website for the inquiry. There’s also a campaign to make free counselling available to those who need it which you can read about here. Appointments and Resignations Congratulations to the following on their recent appointments: | Soreen Scahill | Head Teacher | Cottle | | Craig Doolan | Teacher | Island Bay | | Joy Wiles | .75 Teacher | Island Bay | | Emma Hilleard | Teacher | Silverstream | | Hayley Anngow | .7 Teacher | Upper Hutt | | Scott Marris | Teacher | Waikanae | | Jade Briggs | Administrator | Northland | | Anna Smith | Administrator | Papararangi | | Megan Rowell | .6 Teacher Fixed Term to May 2019 | Brown Owl | | Jane Hutchinson | Head Teacher to Dec 2018 | Doris Nicholson | | Fei Malaga | .45 Teacher Fixed Term to Dec 2018 | Johnsonville Full Day | | Deb Bird | Head Teacher Fixed Term to Dec 2018 | Trentham |
We wish all the best to the following who has resigned: | Dee Swanerton | Administrator | Papararangi |
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