Nau mai ki tenei wiki Kōrero. Power outages across Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Wairarapa gave us a very interesting start to our day today! Thankfully power was restored relatively quickly, this is a great reminder to maintain your civil defence packs. Thanks everyone for getting in touch and managing your way through! Ngā mihi nui Jane 
Coronavirus Update March 12 Whānau Manaaki Kindergartens continues to monitor closely the official information relating to the Coronavirus. You will have seen today that the World Health Organisation has said that the Coronavirus is now a pandemic. Here in NZ. the Ministry of Health has been managing the situation as a pandemic - so there is no immediate change for us. There continues to be some wrong information circulating particularly on social media, which is causing unnecessary concern. This week we put a message on our Whānau Manaaki facebook page, which we will continue to do and update as information comes to hand. We recommend that kindergartens share these messages on their own facebook page. Inidividual kindergartens are in the best position to assess the concerns of your families, and to inform them and where necessary provide reassurance. Advise people to get their information from the Ministry of Health website. It is better to over communicate rather than under-communicate. You can find the link to information from the World Health Organisation here.
The important points to make at the moment are:
- So far there have been no cases in our regions
- No children in New Zealand have contracted the virus
- When children do contract the virus around the world they have recovered well.
- Of the cases that have occurred in New Zealand, (in Auckland) only one of the five people has required hospital care.
The virus is potentially serious but we need to keep it in proportion. The most serious affects could well be economic rather than health effects. The main points to note remain the same: - Wash and dry hands thoroughly (for at least 20 seconds)
- Stay at home if you are unwell
- Cough into a tissue or your elbow, and put tissues in the bin
We've included links to two useful videos:
- Jacinda Ardern's interview with Dr Michelle Dickinson and Dr Juliet Gerrard here. - Nano-girl child friendly video here.
Give Away Day Thank you to everyone for the donations and help for the first Twilight Give Away Day held last Friday. Its was a great success!
Maintenance Requests When requesting any maintenance at your kindergarten you are to do so using the GOSH online system. When you require maintenance at your kindergarten: Firstly, please refer to the Maintenance Flow chart for your area. The flow chart details the process for requesting maintenance and includes the names and contact details of the preferred contractors in your area. The Maintenance Flow charts are available on GOSH in the Key documents section and on the Whānau Manaaki website www.wmkindergartens.org.nz/staff Please note that with all urgent and essential maintenance, the kindergarten must contact the contractor directly and then complete the Kindergarten Maintenance Request form in GOSH. When requesting maintenance please use the Kindergarten Maintenance Request form which can be found in the What would you like to report? section on GOSH. If you have any questions, please contact Lupeni.Aitogi@wmkindergartens.org.nz
Staff Sync Reliever App Training We are continuing the roll out of training for Staff Sync (app for co-ordinating relievers). This app is already used in some parts of our organisation. It is really important that all relievers attend the training because it is the systems we will using for booking relievers from Term 2. We know, like any change, there could be some hiccups along the way so please let us know if you need further support or have any questions. We anticipate that there will be very little (if any) impact on teachers in Kindergartens, it will be Relievers and our Co-ordinators who will be using the App, we need teachers to support where you can. Our reliever co-ordinators have been provided with training and they will also be present where possible at the training days being provided. Relievers will be paid for their time to attend the training and reimbursed for travel.
As the training is for a mobile based app, please make sure you bring your cell-phone. The schedule for the remaining training sessions is as follows: Region | Date | Times | Venue | Levin | 16 March | 12.30pm / 3.00pm / 5.30pm | Te Takare Education Suite 10 Bath Street, Levin | Kapiti | 17 March | 12.30pm / 3.00pm / 5.30pm | Kapiti Pavillion 10 Scaife Drive, Paraparaumu 5032 | City North | 23 March | 12.30pm / 3.00pm / 5.30pm | He Whanau Manaaki Te Puna | Porirua | 24 March | 12.30pm / 3.00pm / 5.30pm | He Whanau Manaaki | Catch Up Sessions | 30 & 31 March | 112.30pm / 3.00pm / 5.30pm | He Whanau Manaaki |
Catch Up Sessions The catch up sessions are for any relievers from Upper Hutt or Wairarapa that have not yet attended a training session, or who need a refresher. We will email relievers with the dates and details of the training, if you haven’t received this email by end of next week please contact Leigh.Comeskey@wmkindergartens.org.nz. We will send out this schedule to be displayed in the kindergarten for relievers. We will send out further details with the venue and asking you to RSVP to confirm numbers for catering purposes. Please direct any questions to trish.taylor-pope@wmkindergartens.org.nz We look forward to seeing you there!
New 2020 Leaderful Practice Cluster We are pleased to offer another PLD opportunity for teachers who are interested in growing their leaderful practice. Learning to be educational leaders who are equipped to support high quality and equitable education in New Zealand is a multi-faceted and complex process. In recent years, there has been an increasing emphasis on developing all teachers’ capabilities as leaders. In 2019 we provided PLD around building leaderful practice, using a cluster approach. We intend to establish a new cluster group in 2020 for those who were not able to participate in 2019. Being involved in the cluster means: - Attending three workshops over the year, that are framed around the nine capabilities identified in the recently published Educational Leadership Capability Framework.
- Inquiring into your own leaderful practice over the course of the PLD.
PLEASE NOTE: This PLD is not specifically focused on being a positional leader (e.g. Head Teacher). You can attend this PLD if you are interested in leaderful practice, regardless of whether or not you aspire to be a positional leader. The three workshops will run consecutively over three term breaks: workshop 1 on Wednesday 15th April; workshop 2 on Wednesday 8th July; and workshop 3 on Wednesday 30th September. This PLD will be available Association-wide on these dates, as it is delivered using zoom in a local kindergarten. They will run simultaneously – on the same day, for 3 hours, between 1 and 4 pm. Kindergarten venues will be determined once enrolments are known. In each kindergarten there will be at least one Senior Teacher providing face-to-face facilitation. You will not find this PLD on HRNet. Please email fiona.twaddle@wmkindergartens.org.nz to enrol in the cluster by Friday 27 March. Remember, this PLD is open to anyone who is interested in growing their leaderful practice, not just teachers in leadership positions. 2019 Leaderful Practice cluster We will be contacting those teachers who were involved in the 2019 Leaderful practice cluster in a separate email about dates for continuing this cluster in 2020.
Storypark PLD We successfully used Zoom for a recent Storypark PLD session as a way to reach more teachers and therefore support teams and individual teachers in building their knowledge and capability in using Storypark. The second session is scheduled for Thursday 19 March from 3.00 - 4.30pm. If you and/or your team are interesting in being part of this, please enrol on HRNET or contact Kaz on Karen.craig@wmkindergarten.org.nz and we will send more detailed instructions about joining in with this ZOOM meeting. Numbers for this session will be limited to 20 participants. The focus for this term will be around using the Planning Function and in particular setting up your STLP Overview and STLP Action Plans on Storypark. We aim to have time for responding to your questions too. We are hoping to record each session so that you can also revisit the information shared. If you have any questions, please email Lynette (lynette.wray@wmkindergartens.org.nz)
Pasifika Celebration Day - Levin 
If you are in the area be sure to visit our early learning village that has been coordinated by Taitoko and Fanau Pasifika Kindergartens.
March 15 Anniversary 
With the anniversary of the March 15 terrorist massacre this weekend, it is good to take time to recognise that this is a sad time for many families who were affected by this tragedy in different ways. Around the country there will be various events to mark the day. Check whether there is anything happening in your community which you could advertise on your facebook page to show your support for your families.
Te Tiriti-based Futures & Anti-Racism 2020 Te Tiriti-based Futures & Anti-racism 2020 is an innovative (inter)national, 10-day online Tiriti-based, anti-racism and decolonisation event in Aotearoa beginning on International Race Relations Day. See the full schedule here.
Men's Network Casual Drinks Friday, 27th of March Where: Leroy’s Bar 2 Plimmers Steps (off Lambton Quay) Wellington Time: 6.30pm onwards ALL STAFF WELCOME
Waikanae Bush Explorers Check out Waikanae Kindergartens Bush Explorers!
The Bush Explorers programme runs every thursday morning. 
Adventures in te ngahere last week. Hunting for wolves and fairies and, climbing VERY high... We were reminded today that children are capable, confident learners.
This Week On Facebook 
Facebook Pages To Follow Powered by NZEI Te Riu Roa, ECE Voice is a space where early childhood teachers and their communities can unite and campaign for fair pay and better conditions in the early childhood sector. 
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