Welcome to our latest update of information and stories you may be interested in... As the fine weather continues we need to be aware of the water restrictions that are currently in place across our region. What can you do to support these restrictions both at home and in the kindergarten? Enjoy! 
Facebook  We want to further support you with managing your Facebook pages and are planning a PD session some time in the new year. It would be great if you would let Chanelle know of any problems you might be having and she will make sure it is included in any PD sessions that come round. Just email her at chanelle.huia-rutten@wmkindergartens.org.nz. Christmas Pays You will receive your pay as usual on the 20th December 2017. The following pay that is due on the 3rd January 2018 will be deposited early and be available to you on Saturday 30th December 2017. Please ensure your timesheets, returns and staff hour counts are sent in before you finish for the year and/or by 9.00am Friday, 22nd December at the latest. Any received after this date will be processed in the pay of 17th January 2018.
Christmas Leave The end of the year is fast approaching, and the payroll team have commenced inputting leave requests for all staff for the compulsory leave periods over for the Christmas closedown. You may receive an email advising that your leave has been approved - please don’t be alarmed - this just enables us to get on top of the end of year rush and ensure that all pays can be processed on time over the Christmas/New Year period.
PA1s for Christmas Break  Just a reminder that any PA1’s for property work teams are wanting to be carried out over the Christmas break need to be emailed to Lorraine Coulston before 5pm 4 December 2017. Any questions, please contactLorraine.Coulston@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Hazard Reporting  Following feed-back from some kindergartens that the process for entering hazards from the Annual Hazard Checklist is tricky and quite time consuming, GOSH have determined a way to do it going forward which will increase the user friendliness. At this time we are working with GOSH to determine the time frame for these changes and will keep you posted in the Korero when this is available for you to use. Until then if you could please hold off entering any further hazards from the Annual Hazard Checklist. We are aware that some of you have already entered your hazards from the checklist and we really appreciate the work for you have done If you have any questions please contact Lorraine.Coulston@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Out and About with Chanelle Hi everyone, it has been great getting out and seeing some of you! I know many of you have exciting and interesting things going on at the moment and we want to know about it! So if you have anything happening at Kindergarten e.g. events, fundraisers or anything you think especially intriguing please let me know! Such events can be great opportunities not only for publicity and promotion but also to invite the wider community into our kindergartens, creating an awesome space for our rangatahi. You can call or email me : 04 232 1744 or Chanelle.huia-rutten@wmkindergartens.org.nz Chanelle
Johnsonville Kindergarten on the Move Johnsonville full day kindergarten is moving into the new Johnsonville library building. The move is expected in 2019, and the kindergarten will be on the second floor, accessed through the library itself. Head teacher Anne Masterton says the move provides exciting opportunities for greater collaboration with the library and with the adjacent swimming pool. Anne says families already make good use of the library, but now the kindergarten will incorporate library experiences into the programme and will also use the technology suite that is part of the development. “The children will see the library as their space” she says. “It’s exciting - it’s going to offer a different way of working. We are already part of the community, but this will make those links stronger.” Anne says there will be challenges associated with being on the second floor of the building, but the teaching team are going to visit other centres to see what can be achieved. Having a purpose built facility rather than a converted villa will offer opportunities for the teaching team to be involved in the design of the space. The move is expected in 2019.
End of Month Infocare Cut-Off Next week is financial month end and we will be working on our November Board and Kindergarten reporting in the coming weeks. To help us with this, we would be grateful if you could have your Infocare records for the last week of the month (being the week ended Friday 1st December) completed by the end of the day on Monday 4th December. This means we would like you to complete the following tasks in Infocare up to and including Friday 1st December, as appropriate: - Sign in sheets marked in Infocare (actual attendance)
- Fee invoices created and committed
- Staff timetables (“staff hour count”) completed
- Online sign off of your monthly roll return
- Any ratio, attendance or roll issues are communicated to the Association (please call Tania or Hannah)
Please let Tania or Hannah know ASAP if you expect there to be any delay with completing these tasks by the date indicated. Annual Review 2018 We are coming up to the end of the term and the Senior teachers are beginning to plan their work for term 1. Next term we will be completing an annual review at your kindergarten. This time we would like to give you a choice of 2 of the areas of practise below to go through and evaluate yourselves against. These areas are: - Environment
- Interactions with Children
- Professional relationships
We suggest that each teacher individually goes through the criteria for the areas of practise that you choose and decide where the team might currently sit. Then you come back together and have some discussion about your decisions. Be prepared to discuss your thinking. You don’t need to send this information in but need to have it available for your Senior teacher to look at on the day. Please click here to access the document. It is also available at www.wmkindergartens.org.nz/staff under Downloads and Resources. Paula Hunt Senior Teacher Phone: 029 527 0020
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