Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. Wow, what a week … we hope you are getting an opportunity to take a breath and adjust to life in your ‘bubble’. We are so appreciative of all the amazing work you did to get all kindergartens shut down in such a short time frame! Thanks for working to stay open for those families who needed it on Tuesday and Wednesday. All this demonstrates your strong commitment and professionalism toward our tamariki and whānau – you guys rock!. This weeks Kōrero has lots of information about stuff related to Covid-19. We also have seen the wonderful work you are doing to stay connected with your kindergarten whānau and we have shared a few examples of this amazing work and will continue to do so over the coming weeks. We know this all feels weird as we adjust to new ways of being and working. Keep safe in your ‘bubbles’ and remember your Senior Teachers and the office based staff are available for any queries and support you may have over the coming weeks. He hono tangata kore a motu, kāpā he taura, waka a motu Connections between people cannot be severed, whereas those of a canoe rope can. Jane on behalf of the Senior Management Team 
Cancellation Of PLD And Conference Over the past few days we have been working through various issues and have had to make the really tough decision to cancel the following PLD: - July Conference including the Full Staff Meeting – scheduled for first week of July term break
- Leadership Hui in April term break
- All PLD courses for April term break including First Aid and Child Protection
- Regional and Head Teacher Meetings scheduled during Term 2
- Relievers’ Appraisals Meetings scheduled during Term 2
We’ve done this because the safety of our staff, our presenters and those at the venues we hire is of paramount importance to us and this has been the key driver in making this decision. We will keep you updated in future editions of the Kōrero of any further cancellations that we may need to make. If you have any questions at all you can direct them, in the first instance, to hannah.toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz
HR Update Appointments and Vacancies We have put all appointments on hold for now. Over the next few weeks we will make decisions about how to progress things with vacancies and appointments and will communicate with applicants and head teachers about this. Relievers' Pay All short-term relievers who were booked for hours in the period from 23 March to 25 April will be paid. We have communicated directly with relievers and head teachers about this. Part-time teachers who were booked for extra relieving hours from the week of 23 March to 27 March will be paid. We are gathering information about extra hours booked for after Friday 27 March for this group, and will make further decisions about that in the coming days. Pay The Payroll and Human Resources team is working from home over this time and so the pays will happen as usual for permanent and long-term relieving staff and for relievers in line with the decisions we have made. The next pay day is Tuesday 7 April (Tuesday night) . If you have any questions about your pay you can email payroll@wmkindergartens.org.nz or call Karen Skett on 021 857 826.
Mandy's Updates You will have received a number of updates from Mandy over the past week and particularly the past few days. It is a good idea to have these updates on hand so that you can answer any questions for your families or your teams as they arise. One question we have been asked about is fees. In Mandy's update on Tuesday she said "we will not charge fees while we are closed. Please reassure your families about this". If you have any other questions please send them through to Jane at jane.braun@wmkindergartens.org.nz or to korero@wmkindergartens.org.nz. We will do our best to answer them all.
Kindysafe Website – Whānau Resources In One Place  With the move to online learning across our education system there are all sorts of resources available and it can be hard to keep track of them all. One place to go is the kindysafe website, which is published by Kindergartens Aotearoa ( a groups of eight kindergarten associations) and is constantly being updated. It includes links to everything from recipes to audiobooks and waiata and some academic stuff as well. Here’s the link.
Staying Inside The Bubble And Keeping The Bubble Small One good site for information about the virus is The Spinoff news website, where microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles and cartoonist Toby Morris have joined together to produce some easily accessible, scientifically reliable and visually clear information. Today there’s an explanation of keeping inside your bubble, and why its important to keep that bubble small despite your desire to include your extended family or your children’s wider family. Here’s a link to that explanation. Although the Spinoff is a great site, and its information is spread around the globe, and is available free, it is in financial difficulty so if you use it regularly you may like to consider joining.
COVID-19 Story How viruses work – patient 31 in Korea may have infected 5,000 people This clip explains, in stark detail, how one unsuspecting person can be responsible for spreading a virus to thousands of people and why it really is important to think hard about every time you leave your house. Think of your family and your community yes, but also realise how desperate this killer virus is to find new hosts around the world, and how every good decision you make to limit your activities really can help. #stayathome #savelives
Education Gazette In light of the impact COVID-19 is having on schools, kura, early learning services and kōhanga reo, the next issue of the Education Gazette will be published in digital format only. We encourage all teachers, kaiako and support staff to sign up to receive the Gazette by email. You can do that by clicking the link here.
Red Cross Explains The Lockdown In Many Languages The Red Cross has put out some resources in different languages for different communities about the lockdown. They include explanations about some of the issues which have come up – for example, people not wanting to ring the healthline because of cost – not knowing that it is free. Kindergartens may find some material to put on your facebook pages for your different communities Here’s the link to the resources.
Some Things Don't Change The HR team have been thinking of innovative ways to keep connected and keeping their routines. Here they are, using House Party, to do the morning quiz! 
Cool Things Happening There are some really creative and innovative ways of interacting with your children, kindergarten communities and your colleagues and we will be listing them here over the next few weeks. Feel free to email korero@wmkindergartens.org with your ideas and we can share them with everyone. There is a teddy bear hunt in a neighbourhood near you! Check it out here. S.K.I.P Parenting resources, check it out here. Books to listen to: And if you feel the need to get the brain ticking over with other people check out this scrabble online page. Katie, from Waitohi Kindergarten, is doing daily mat times on facebook, how cool is that. You can check that out here. Kindergartens are using StoryPark to connect with their families.
From Miramar Central! From the teachers who brought you 'If your nose is runny', here's a cheery little reminder about what to do after you've coughed, sneezed or blown your nose, used the toilet, are about to eat, have touched an animal, can see they're dirty and are just generally trying to protect yourself from germs: Ki runga, ki raro, ki waenganui, ki runga, ki raro, ki waenganui, ki runga, ki raro, ki waenganui, horoi o ringaringa
(On top, underneath and in between, wash your hands)
This Week On Facebook  
Handy Facebook Pages  There are a number of facebook pages out there that are useful for families and ourselves and a couple of them are here: The Parenting Place 
Teacher Talk 
Author of Te Reo Singalong books, Sharon Holt, challenges you to commit to pronouncing our Māori place names, birds and trees correctly. Join the page to find out just how easy that can be!
And To Finish Off This Week...... 
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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