Welcome to our latest update of information and stories you may be interested in... There has been a lot of PLD happening over the term break and it has been great to see you all at these sessions. We hope you enjoyed your day off yesterday and we look forward to those of you who have had some time off during the term break being back in your Kindergartens on Monday. Jane. 
New Logos and Signage While there are still around 15 logo proposals to go out to the kindergartens, we are about to start rolling out signage in the Wairarapa! It has been a long process but in the next few weeks our friend Mark and his team will be installing the new signs and setting up the flag outside kindergartens! Here is an example of the signs and flags. 
Requests for Outdoor Environments Designers As part of our continued focus on developing our systems and processes, we are looking to increase the pool of people we can call on for the design of outdoor environments in our kindergartens. If you have engaged a designer for your outdoor environment that you found responsive, knowledgeable and with the skills to do an effective job please email Rob, Robert.Dunn@wmkindergartens.org.nz with the person’s name and if possible, their contact details.
Improvements to Kindergarten Internet You will have heard in the Regional Staff Meetings about our commitment to improve internet speeds for kindergartens. We are currently working with Vodafone and BOS as part of a project to move kindergartens to faster internet services (VDSL or Fibre) which means you can expect some changes over the coming weeks and months. For some kindergartens this process will be simple and will only require a change of your current modem, while for others it may be more involved and could mean installation of fibre cabling at your kindergarten. We will keep in touch with you as we work through this process – as we receive advice from Vodafone about the scheduling of changes at your kindergarten Tania Braybrook will call to advise when you can expect Chorus and BOS workers on site. If you have any questions about this project, or the next steps, please call or email Jane Braun (027 528 8993) or Tania Braybrook (021 375 894) at the Association Office.
Storypark Our Teachers Toolbox on Storypark is a great place to look for resources and articles to support your teaching and learning, as well as providing quick access to a number of our Association kits and resources (see below for just some of the content already available). We are continuing to add information and welcome suggestions or resources from teachers too (please email Tania at Tania.jack@wmkindergartens.org.nz ). All teachers have been invited to join the Teachers Toolbox, so please check your individual work email address for your invitation and click on the link to accept. If you need some support with this, please let Tania know. 
Professional Development Opportunity Victoria University of Wellington:The Institute for Early Childhood Studies Autumn Research Seminar Education for Sustainability in Early Childhood Education: Making it real Saturday 12 May 2018, 8.30am–3.30pm If you are interested in taking part in this Professional Development opportunity and it aligns with your teaching and learning goals and or appraisal goals, then support with registration fees may be available. More information can be found here. Please contact your Senior Teacher to discuss this further. Thank you, Sharon and the Teaching team. New Itinerant Relievers We are pleased to tell you that we have appointed 10 new Itinerant Relievers who will be employed for Terms 2 and 3. Joining our existing Itinerants (Jemma, Mavis (currently on leave), Hayley, Epi, Annette and Ange) are: | Name | Area they'll work | | Anne Perry | Wairarapa | | Lily Garven | Upper Hutt (and maybe Wairarapa) | | Anne Stevens | Levin, Kapiti, Porirua | | Vanessa Hesp | City North, Porirua | | Andrea Cooke | East Harbour, Petone, City North, Porirua (and maybe Upper Hutt) | | Kim Gavin | City South, City Central/Petone, City North, Porirua (and maybe Upper Hutt) | | Bridie (Bridget) Greene | City South, City Central/Petone | | Jenny Gullen | City South, City Central/Petone, City North, Porirua | | Megan Rowell | Petone, Porirua (and maybe Upper Hutt) | | Terri Greenhalch | City South, City Central/Petone, City North, Porirua (and maybe Upper Hutt) |
Nicki and Dhanaye will be placing them in work every day. The Itinerants have priority for work and we will try to keep them for ‘urgent’ work – the day-to-day sick leave etc – so please send your requests to Nicki and Dhanaye (rather than contacting the Itinerant directly) so they can coordinate and make sure the jobs are prioritised and covered. Nicki and Dhanaye can be contacted after 6.30am and before 9pm. We have never had so many Itinerants and so it may take some time for the process to become totally worked out, in terms of where they will mainly work etc but we will continue to monitor things and make any adjustments/refinements as we go. If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Karen Skett at karen.skett@wmkindergartens.org.nz or on 021 857 826.
Hot Tip  One of the strangest uses for toothpaste involves your cellphone, strange but true! Toothpaste can help mask the little scratches on your devices screen. Gently run a little toothpaste all over the surface of the screen, leave to dry then wipe off. 
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