Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero.  Ka puta Matariki ka rere Whānui.
Ko te tohu tēnā o te tau e! Matariki signals the Māori New Year. It is a time of renewal and celebration and begins with the rising of the Matariki star cluster (the Pleiades or Seven Sisters). Happy Matariki to you all! And how appropriate, that at this time of the year, Whanganui Kindergartens become part of He Whānau Manaaki on Monday. While it has been very busy preparing for this transition we are so excited about the opportunities ahead. Jane. 
Mana Atua He Whānau Manaaki o Tararua Staff Conference 2019 Update No 8 We are excited to welcome you to the eighth Conference update! There will be further news, information and guidance each week in the Kōrero, so you may want to print this off each week so you have a record of it for the whole team. We look forward to welcoming you to this year’s annual Staff Conference on the 8 and 9 of July. The theme of this year’s Conference is – Mana Atua Registration: Please note that registration for conference is now closed Accommodation Due to numbers of people requiring accommodation, we have had to place people in different hotels across the city. We have done our best to place people with their teams. Thank you for your patience. Non-teaching staff The Staff Conference begins at 8.30am for non-teaching staff on Monday morning 8 July. A Conference Keynote 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, 8 July starting at 12.45pm 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. We are very excited to announce that the Key Note speaker this year is Gilbert Enoka who has for the past 16 years been the Mental Skills Coach for the All Blacks and will be sharing his own personal story as well as the transferable strategies he uses in his work. Teachers Conference The Teachers Conference will take place on Tuesday, 9 July at Te Papa in Wellington, beginning with a prompt start of 8.00am. Please see the Kaupapa for Day 1 July 8, and Day 2 July 9 below: (please note there are some room changes on Day 2)   Car Parking Te Papa offers a special function attendees rate of $12.00 from 6.00am to 6.00pm and an evening special of $8.00 from 5.00pm to 2.00am the next day. There is a car parking validator machine available at the registration desk in the Angus room. Bring your ticket in and pass it through the machine, then you will need to go to a pay station on departure and the special function attendees rate will apply. Water bottles Due to our ongoing commitment to sustainability we will not be providing bottled water in the conference bags. Water stations and paper cups will be available throughout the venue; therefore we encourage you to bring your own water bottles. Conference Lunch Lunch will be provided by the Association using the Te Papa caterers and will be served in the Oceania room. In response to feedback from 2018 Conference, lunch will now be served over two sittings, this allows everyone to have room to enjoy lunch more comfortably. Your Conference tag will identify which sitting you are in. Therefore, it is important that you only attend the lunch sitting you have been allocated; for example Kākāriki group will have lunch at 11.30am and the Kahurangi group will have lunch at 12.40pm. Mid winter celebration We are aware that it can be difficult for staff who live outside of the Wellington area to attend our end of year celebration. Therefore, this year we are inviting all staff to our celebration at Macs Bar on Monday 8 July, after the Staff Meeting, from 5.00pm to 9.00pm. This is a wonderful opportunity to mix and mingle with each other. We will be providing kai and subsidised drinks, and there will be music along with a photo booth, and flower wall so you can take photos to remember the celebration! Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday 8 July and Tuesday 9 July!
Hazards By now you should have updated your Termly Hazard Checklist on GOSH. If you have not already done so you have until tomorrow, 28 June, to have it completed. Any hazards that are identified during this process, that cannot be eliminated immediately, need to be entered onto your kindergartens Hazard Register using GOSH. Annual ECE Return Due The Annual ECE Return Week this year is 24 to 28 June, this current week. The ECE Return is completed on Infocare. Please see the instructions here. The Census needs to be completed by Wednesday 5 July. If you require assistance to complete the ECE Return please contact Tania Braybrook 04 232 3065 or by email tania.braybrook@wmkindergartens.
Kindergarten Committee Newsletter We are coming to the end of another financial year! Thanks go to all of the committee members and whānau groups who work very hard for each kindergarten. We appreciate the fantastic work they do to support each and every one of you. There are a number of tasks that need to be completed by the committee/whānau groups over the next couple of weeks. A newsletter outlining these tasks is here. Please share this newsletter with your committee or whānau group.
Part Time Teacher Get Together Teachers who work part-time will meet again this term break, on Wednesday 10 July at 1 pm in the Johnsonville Community Centre. This is the second meeting of three this year for the group. It is a great opportunity to meet others, discuss issues, and find solutions together to any problems. All are welcome and if you would like to know more feel free to email Debby, debby.king@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Induction and Mentoring Seminar Thursday 11 July 2019 9.00am – 1.00pm Upper Hutt Cossie Club We are looking forward to seeing all Provisionally Certificated Teachers and their Mentors at our second Induction and Mentoring Seminar for 2019. Teachers who hold a Subject to Confirmation Practising Certificate are very welcome to attend too. Please enrol on HR.Net as soon as possible so that your enrolment is confirmed (we need numbers so that we have enough food, chairs and resources for everyone – thanks) If you do not have an HR.Net login yet please contact Hannah, at the Association office, who will help you with this: Hannah.Toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz It is expected that all provisionally certificated teachers (PCT’s) attend as it is a required part of the Induction and Mentoring programme. The programme includes: - reflective practice, teacher inquiry and appraisal
- engaging with your Evidence: analysing and discussing
- internal Evaluation processes
- time to focus on your Induction and Mentoring Programme (please bring your Induction and Mentoring/Appraisal portfolios)
Please contact Lynette (lynette.wray@wmkindergartens.org.nz) or your Senior Teacher if you have any questions or queries.
Our Look At Whanganui Continued - Aramoho Kindergarten As you know the Whanganui Kindergarten Association’s 15 kindergartens are joining us from Monday, 1 July, and we continue to introduce you to these kindergartens over the next few weeks. Aramoho Kindergarten is in the suburb of Aramoho, a little north of Wanganui’s city centre, and close to the river. Head teacher Sybelle says the grounds at the kindergarten are amazing, with beautiful old trees. “There’s so much space it’s just wonderful.” As well as providing a lot of room for riding bikes and other outdoor activities, the kindergarten does the Virtues programme, does a lot of cooking and baking and music. The kindergarten has great support from parents and the wider community and has good relationships with local schools. “People say we are really welcoming and friendly.” Celebrations and the sharing of food are important, with Matariki festivities planned. Like most Wanganui kindergartens, it is open for six hours a day for a mixed age group from aged two. 
Office Staff Profiles This week we introduce you to the finance team. 
Jan, Christine, Kasey, Cathryn, Brendon and Nicola are the "finance team" This team is responsible for the finances for all of our kindergartens, Whānau Ora, EPF and Etu Ao, as well as the overall Association. From paying accounts, invoicing families for fees and whānau contributions, applying for grants, reconciling WINZ payments, fees and fundraising, to ensuring there is enough money each fortnight for pays!!! Among many other finance tasks they are one busy team!
Kindergartens Welcome $24m For Learning Support Services During the week Toru Fetu Kindergarten was the place to be for the announcement of the government's "injection" into Early Intervention Services. It was an awesome morning and an equally awesome message. You can see the press release below the photos.  
 
He Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens welcome the announcement that $24m will be invested into Early Intervention Services. Minister of Children, Tracey Martin visited Toru Fetū Kindergarten in Porirua today to announce $24m is to be dedicated to Early Intervention Services. This came as a very welcome and positive message for He Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens. Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens runs 86 kindergartens in the lower North Island and three home-based education networks catering mainly to Pasifika and migrant families . “We know first hand the problems children and families face waiting for assistance” says Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens Chief Executive Officer Amanda Coulston. Extra money was put into learning support services in last year’s budget and the government hoped it would cut waiting lists for those children needing support. Instead, waiting lists continued to grow. Currently 11 Whānau Manaaki teachers are undergoing extra training, on top of their teaching workloads, to become early intervention specialists. Amanda Coulston says, “the injection of funding into early learning support is imperative.” He Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens welcome the opportunity to work alongside the Minister of Children and Ministry of Education. As Amanda Coulston says, “we are committed to making a difference for all children and we want to work with others to improve the lives and educational outcomes of those who are currently missing out”. You can read another article about this funding, published in the Education Gazette, here.
Transforming Art At Northland and Ngaio Northland and Ngaio Kindergartens have recently held a fundraiser where their parents were asked to drop their children's art work to the kindergarten. The teams worked with Pip Stevenson who scanned and loaded the artwork on to an online store where parents could view digital mock ups of their children's art on various products. Parents were then able to purchase these products, with a percentage going to the kindergarten. Check out these amazing items showcasing the art of the kindergarten children.    Both kindergartens enjoyed the process and the teachers said it is incredibly easy to run If you are interested in doing this with your children click here to get more information or contact the team at either Northland or Ngaio Kindergartens.
This Week On Facebook  
Silverstream - Matariki, the Maori new year is a very special time in Aotearoa New Zealand.
In June each year the Maratiki star cluster appares in the northern eastern sky. Traditionally Matariki is a time to celebrate a successful harvest, a time to remember loved ones who have passed on and a time to reflect your whakapapa. Whanau come together to laugh, share kai, dance and sing waiata.
"Tera Matariki huihui ana mai"
"Yonder in the skies you have witnessed Pleiades, grouped together".
This morning we started the day with kai, followed by a performance and then planting of two feijoa trees. Purea nei e te hau is a song about new beginnings.
Handy Facebook Pages  Building capacity, increasing connectedness and fostering cooperation for a resilient community. We help people in the Wellington Region prepare for, respond to and recover from large scale emergencies. Follow your local emergency services and/or your regional emergency management office for up to date information regarding emergencies in your region! 
Join the Reggio Emilia Inspired Dialogue group Wellington (or the region best suited to you). Reggio Emilia Inspired Dialogue (REID) is a group of Wellington early childhood educators who are influenced by Reggio Emilia pedagogy, which includes: listening to children's "100 languages", dialogue, in-depth investigations and parent involvement. The Wellington group meets several times a year: one centre presents recent investigation and participants engage in a dialogue framed by the centre and Reggio Emilia ideas. We also let our network know of any international visitors who are influenced by Reggio Emilia. 
Appointments and Resignations Congratulations to the following on their recent appointment: | Winnie Ponga | .64 Teacher | Shannon | | Jenny Manning | .6 Teacher | Berhampore | | Chrystal Walmsley | .6 Teacher | Ascot Park | | Kelly Spring | .9 Teacher | Parsons Avenue | | Kensie Thompson | Teacher | East Harbour | | Mandy Howat | Administrator | Petone Beach | | Kathryn Shaw | Administrator | Petone | | Sara Brown | Administrator | Campbell | | Theresa Hardie | .7 Teacher relieving to July 2020 | Masterton West | | Thijs de Koning | .6 Teacher relieving to July 2020 | Seatoun | | Anita Parker | Teacher relieving to July 2020 | Masterton West |
We wish all the best to the following who has resigned: | Carolyn Brownie | Teacher | Paremata |
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