Welcome to our latest update of information and stories you may be interested in... So we’re at the end of another term – the term that includes the darkest, coldest days of winter, and the first days of spring. For many of you, your kindergartens will remain open over the term break, so it feels different to those who have the “school holidays”, but for all of us in education, our year is still marked by the terms. It’s been a full on term that started with our highly successful staff conference back in July. We’ve had heaps of positive feedback about the conference, and we’ve taken your feedback and used it in preparation for our conference next year – planning is never-ending! One thing I have debated over the past few months is how to let you know my regret at causing offence over a comment I made when thanking the Minister of Education. I made reference to the previous Government in a way that caused offence to the National Party spokesperson on ECE Nicola Willis. My comments were hyperbole within the context of speaking about the significant cuts the previous Government imposed on ECE and the hugely negative impact of such cuts on children. When I realised I’d caused offence, I apologised personally to Nicola after the session. I would never do such a thing intentionally to an invited guest, regardless of how strongly I felt about their political position. I just wanted to let you know that. I see and hear that many of you have invited politicians to your services and engaged with them on the issues – that’s fantastic! We eagerly await the draft Ten Year Strategic Plan for ECE and have been actively involved in making submissions and responses to the various consultation documents and working parties. Busy times! So thank you for the work you have done over the past few months. I know the challenges some of you have faced, and can only imagine others that haven’t come to my attention. But regardless, you have kept working together, focusing on making ECE great for the children and their whānau, and caring for each other as you do so. Thanks also to the Office staff, the Senior Teachers, the Amataga Team, who all work hard to support you to do the best by children. Spring brings hope and longer days (don’t forget it’s Daylight Saving this weekend), something we can all look forward to. Naku te rourou Nau te rourou Ka ora ai te iwi With your basket and my basket the people will live Take care. Mandy xoxo 
Nicki Cook On Leave Nicki is going away for the weekend of Friday 12th to Sunday 14th October. She will not be available to answer calls, texts or emails from 8.30am on Friday 12th until Sunday night (14th). As Nicki will only be able to action urgent requests on the Friday morning, it would be great if you can let Nicki know of any known requests: - for next term BEFORE Thursday (11th); or
- for Friday 12th Oct on Thursday (11th).
Nicki will action last minute / urgent requests for Monday 15th on Sunday night or Monday morning. If you have any problems or requests outside this time please contact your Senior Teacher.
Reminder Full Year Kindergarten PLD October 13th 9.30am to 1.00pm at the Cossie Club in Upper Hutt. Please see here for the kaupapa for the PLD presented by Monica Powers – we look forward to seeing you there!
Induction and Mentoring 4 October 9.00am-1.00pm @ Petone Working Men’s Club (please note change of venue) We are looking forward to seeing all PCTs and Mentors at our final seminar for this year. Teachers who hold Subject to Confirmation practising certificates are also welcome to attend. Please make sure that you enrol on HRNet so that we have enough food and resources for everyone. (Hannah will help if you have any issues enrolling –Hannah.Toomaga@wmkindergartens.org.nz) The programme will include the workshop on Educative Mentoring for Mentors that was cancelled in July, as well as a workshop on ‘Professional Relationships’ for PCTs and a workshop for both Mentors and PCTs around engaging in 'Learning Conversations' with your colleagues.
Infocare Cut-Off and Ministry of Education RS7 Reporting Just another reminder for you about Infocare month end requirements – we have to report “RS7” information about your kindergarten to the Ministry of Education for the current funding period by Friday 5th October. 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 completed as soon as possible. With tomorrow being the end of term for most kindergartens we require you to have your Infocare records for the end of the week completed by close of play tomorrow please. This means we would like you to complete the following tasks in Infocare up to and including Friday 28th September: - Sign in sheets marked in Infocare (actual attendance)
- Fee invoices (for the week ending 28th September) created and committed
- Staff timetables (“staff hour count”) for the week ending 28th September are completed
- Online sign off of your monthly roll return
- Any ratio, attendance or roll issues are communicated to the Association (please call Tania)
Please let Tania know if you do not think you will be able to complete this on time.
He Whānau Manaaki Kindergarten Association Symposium 2018 When: Saturday, November 10th 2018 Venue: Cossie Club, Upper Hutt. The Senior Teaching team are pleased to provide you with the opportunity to enrol and engage in either one, two or all three of the following workshops/presentations at this year’s Annual Symposium. Presentation 1: 9.00am to 10.30am Mandy Moore:ADHD Workshop - Mandy is an Intern Educational Psychologist (VUW) enjoying the final year of her internship. She has a background in teaching, was a Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour and has worked with many students with ADHD at varying levels of education. This workshop will give you overview of children with ADHD and the strategies that will support teachers when working with these children.
Presentation 2: 11.15am to 12.45pm Dr. Ann Milne: Presentation: Colouring the white spaces: Lessons from my Mokopuna - Ann is an educator, mentor, writer, and researcher who promotes developing a learning approach centred on students’ cultural identities and a critical understanding of society. Ann presented at our Conference this year, and due to the popularity of this presentation, not everyone was able to access this. Therefore, we are delighted that Ann is able to present to us again.
Presentation 3: 1.30pm to 3.00pm Bec Miller: Sensory Processing and Behaviour workshop - Bec Millers is and Early Intervention Teacher who works for Learning Support Ministry of Education. Bec’s has presented this workshop recently in Wellington sharing how to identify and support children with sensory processing behaviours. Many teachers found this workshop helpful, therefore, we are very grateful to have Bec’s share this workshop with us again.
You are welcome to attend the whole Symposium, however, please note that you will need to enrol into each individual workshop on HR.Net as places are limited and enrolment in one workshop will not secure a place in all workshops. Thank you.
Storypark PLD  As we noted in a recent Kōrero, Storypark is a key tool for documentation and communication in many of our kindergartens. We now have over 70 Kindergartens and the Etu Ao networks using Storypark and over 420 teachers signed up for the Teachers Toolbox. If you can’t find your invitation to the Teachers Toolbox, please check your individual work email address or contact Tania Jack – (Tania.jack@wmkindergartens.org.nz) Are there some aspects of Storypark that you would like some support with, or would you like to learn more about using the planning section, creating templates or your portfolio? We have set aside some time to support individual teams with Storypark (at your kindergarten) over the term break. Please email Lynette (lynette.wray@wmkindergartens.org.nz) by Mon 24th Sept if you would like a Storypark support session for your team at your kindergarten. Please include possible dates and times that would work for you. We will fit in as many teams as possible, but it will be on a first come, first served basis. If your team would like some support, but the term break doesn’t work for you, please email Lynette and we will look at further options over Term 4.
Playground Audits  The 2018 playground audits are now complete are available for kindergartens to access. This year kindergartens will be able to access their own audit using the GOSH system. If you click on the Playground Audit Issues (see below) on the GOSH homepage this will take you to a login and password screen. The login and password is the same one kindergartens use to access their Hazard Register. 
Next Steps: As with previous audits, responsibility for dealing with issues identified in the audit has been determined and can be found on the Playground Audit Issues list on GOSH. When the kindergarten is tagged as responsible for dealing with the issue stated on the audit report and the kindergarten feels confident to deal with the issue then they are welcome to go ahead with this. If kindergartens are unsure as to how to correct a particular issue there a couple of options; contact a contractor listed on your Maintenance Flow Chart for advice or enter a maintenance request using the Maintenance Request form in the property section on GOSH. If the kindergarten does contact the contractor directly requesting advice, the request for the work to be undertaken must still be entered as a maintenance request on GOSH. Please note, none of the identified issues are considered urgent and essential. Once an identified issue has been remedied, the Playground Audit Issues register is able to be updated by the kindergarten. Any hazards identified in the audit that cannot be eliminated immediately, will need to be entered onto the Kindergarten Hazard Register using GOSH. When the audit report includes a statement such as “continue to monitor” or is stipulated as a “low level risk”, kindergartens should discuss this and/or review this with your Senior Teacher at your next scheduled visit. When the association is tagged as being responsible for dealing with an issue stated on the audit report, these jobs will be added to the association’s job list and no action is required by the kindergarten. If you have any questions please contactLorraine.Coulston@wmkindergartens.org.nz.
Facebook Events  Let us know if you have an upcoming event! Or add us as a co-host to your event page on facebook! We’ve had some interest from potential stall holders wanting to know when our kindergartens are holding their fairs and festivals. The easiest way for us to share this information with the largest audience is to share these events from our Whānau Manaaki Facebook page. So if you have any events coming up that you would like us to share on our page please either let Chanelle at the office know or add the Whānau Manaaki Facebook page as a co-host to your event, this way your event will be visible from the WM page to be seen by over 1000 followers!
Caroline (Aiga) Mareko In The Media Whānau Manaaki’s Communities and Participation Manager Caroline Mareko has been in the news this week, interviewed as a prominent Pasifika woman as part of suffrage celebrations, and as a Pasifika union activist about the pay gap Pasifika women face. Caroline is one of the convenors of the Council of Trade Unions Komiti Pasifika chairs the CTU’s Komiti Pasifika. She spoke about how Pasifika women have low wages and many obligations to meet from those wages. “The people struggling hardest 40 years ago are still the people struggling hardest now, and that’s my people. That needs to change.” Here’s a link to a press release about the issue.
Johnsonville West Gets Political Johnsonville West Kindergarten hosted Ōhariu MP Greg O’Connor last week who came to sign NZEI Te Riu Roa’s equal pay pledge. The pledge, which is available in Te Reo Māori and English, can be downloaded from the NZEI website here. NZEI’s equal pay campaign includes early childhood teachers, support staff employed directly by services, and teacher aides in schools. The pledge is about keeping support for the campaign visible. Just days after Greg O’Connor’s visit to Johnsonville West, it was announced that Oranga Tamariki social workers will vote on pay rises of around 30 per cent as a result of an equal pay settlement.  
Chinese Moon Festival Celebrations “Tangata Whenuatanga: Campbell Kindergarten celebrated Chinese Moon Festival on Monday. Everybody enjoyed sharing the stories about the Moon Festival, traditional Chinese music played by one of our granddads as well as traditional Chinese food prepared by our families. It was a great opportunity to use and appreciate our cultural diversity and feel a strong sense of kotahitanga at kindy.  
This Week On Facebook   
Chris Bishop came to visit the team Petone Kindergarten during the week. It was great for the team to have the chance to talk about current issues in Early Childhood Education to for Chris to learn more about their Kindergarten.
Fanau Pasifika Feature The opening celebrations held last week at Fanau Pasifika featured in the Horowhenua Chronicle last Friday. 
Appointments and Resignations Congratulations to the following on their recent appointment: | Catherine Vaughan | Teacher | Newtown | | Alana Nootai | Assistant Head Teacher | Toru Fetū | | Moira Harris | .4 Teacher | Lyall Bay | | Jo Horgan | Teacher | Seatoun | | Debi McLean | Teacher | Ascot Park | | Gayle Harrison | Administrator | Tawa Central | | Colleen Templeton | Relieving Teacher to October 2019 | Island Bay | | Helen Tyrell | Relieving Teacher to December 2018 | Waitangirua | | Petrina Gilligan | Relieving Teacher to December 2018 | Titahi Bay | | Trudi Sutcliffe | Relieving Teacher to December 2018 | Paremata | | Rolla Farah | Syrian Translator to December 2018 | Nuanua | | Angelique Crump | Teacher | Cottle |
We wish all the best to the following who have resigned: | Melissa Ross | Teacher | Cottle | | Jane Northmore | Teacher | Awatea | | Diana Entwistle | Head Teacher | Raumati South |
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