Jenny's Update

Nau mai, tauti mai!

I’ve been out and about quite a bit and looking at the kindergartens through a prospective parent’s eyes, and it’s great to see all the things that many of our kindergarten teams are doing to create a warm, welcoming environment for whānau.

Still, it is not always easy for people to take that first step and explore their local kindergarten.

A few years back I managed the Increasing Participation contracts for the Ministry of Ed. Each year I spoke to many parents and whānau of children who did not attend ECE about the barriers – why was this the case?

You’d be surprised how many of them said things like “I finally plucked up the courage to go to the preschool/kindy, and when I got there I couldn’t open the gate!", "No-one spoke to me so I just left – and I never went back”. Or, "I rang but they were busy and never rang me back" – it just shows how important we are. "How would they treat my baby?"

Such simple (and avoidable) things prevented that child from ever experiencing ECE. Don’t assume that the obvious things like cost and transport are the barriers – and remember it takes a huge amount of courage for some families to make that first step.

Manaakitanga. Never underestimate how important that welcome is, and how good it makes our parents and whānau feel to be valued from the very first phone call/visit/email. It could make the difference that changes a child’s life.

Whilst there are some physical things we can’t fix right now without a huge property budget, there are aspects of your welcome you can review and change – and when we are competing with shiny new buildings these are also very important.

· How easy is it to spot your kindergarten?

· Are the flags/footpath signs out every day?

· Is your sign covered by overgrown plants/trees? Is it clean?

· Does your driveway need a spruce-up if you’re on a back section?

· Is your entrance clean, tidy and inviting?

· Do you need additional signage to highlight your kindergarten?

· What else could you do?

If you need some help, please let me know.

Stay and Play

I’ve had quite a few enquiries about Stay and Play – when are we going to offer these sessions again?

I know some of you are very keen to pick up where we left off, but we don’t want to create risk where it isn’t necessary during these COVID times. We’ve decided to postpone all Stay and Play for the rest of 2022. Your teams are doing an amazing job of managing sickness and staff and child absences on top of your daily mahi – that’s more than enough for now. I’ll send a reminder to register your Stay and Play session for term one 2023.

Keep up the great work – I know it’s a challenging time, and we appreciate all you’re doing.