North Shore- Auckland- end of the year Xmas Playgroup. 3 December It was a drizzly day but we carried on with our plan to have a Christmas Playgroup at Marlborough Park.
The children bought wheeled toys to ride and we had a shared morning tea under the shelter of some huge old oak trees. Everyone was given a pot of bubble mixture and we had great fun blowing and chasing bubbles- and learning how to blow bubbles. Kate bought along a big bag of toys so we were able to play with those under the trees.
All the children were given balloons to play with and we had a treasure hunt to find chocolate Santas and chocolate coins hidden under the trees.
Mariella, Aoife and Hannah all practiced climbing one of the small trees in the park and the tree also made a great place to hide under and pretend we could not be seen.
It was a lovely morning and it didn't matter at all that it was a bit wet!
7/12/09
Ha...really what did you expect!
At the office, Home Grown Kids staff are welcome to bring their pets to work each day.
Basil & Roxy belong to Melany & Gwyn
Cassie is Julie's baby
Dougal is Leanne's trick performing star!
It's all about building relations...we don't have any cats.
11/11/09
Claiming/Attesting to ECE
Since the introduction of ECE, Home Grown Kids has seen a huge increase in family numbers accessing this Government initiative. This has caused us quite a headache in terms of running this programme and employing staff to manage the volume of paperwork. We no longer have the capacity to backdate these payments or to hold the funds for families that submit the timesheet or the attestation forms late.
So, as from the 23/11/09 we will not be able to backdate any payments, or process any late attestation forms that are not submitted with the fortnightly timesheet. This should make things easier for everyone in that as you submit your timesheet, make sure you have submitted your attestation form if you are making any changes. If there aren’t any changes, then you don’t have to keep submitting the form. We have also slightly changed the form to make it easier to use.
ECE can be claimed over as many services as you wish, providing that the total amount of hours claimed do not exceed 6 hours per day and a total of 20 hours per week.
The hours claimed/attested to cannot exceed the number of booked hours.
You must advise the exact hours you are attesting to – not the hours your child is in care, as in most cases these are different. The hours you are attesting to with HGK must be hours your child is in care with an HGK caregiver.
A separate attestation form must be completed for each child aged 3 or 4 years old.
All 3 & 4 year old children are eligible for ECE and it is not income tested. Please note that the ECE commences from the day after your childs’ 3rd birthday and not the day of his/her birthday.
If your childs booked hours change during a pay period you may be able to attest to more ECE hours with HGK if you are not already attesting to the maximum. If this is the case a new attestation form must be submitted prior to or when you are submitting your timesheet. Please note, this often happens when claiming ECE with HGK as well as other services. It also happens when/if your child does an extra day/hours with an HGK caregiver.
There will be no back pay of ECE – no attestation form with timesheet, no ECE for extra/changed days/hours. Your attestation form must be received prior to or when the timesheet for the period that has changed is submitted.
Some services, such as kindergarten close down over school holidays so it is important that you revisit the hours you are attesting to over all services prior to school holidays to ensure that you are covered for the maximum possible. If a change is required then you must submit another attestation form. This is where you can attest to the maximum with HGK, providing your child is in care during this time, and show on the attestation form as the first day of school holidays to be the commencement date and the final date to be last day of school holidays. ECE will then revert back to what you were attesting to prior to school holidays.
The attestation form will not be accepted by HGK if it has not been signed and completed correctly. If it has been received by us and not completed correctly, we will return it to you explaining how to correct the form. ECE will take effect when the correctly completed form is received at HGK.
If we notice that you may be able to attest to more ECE hours we will contact you to inform you of this and forward you a blank attestation form for completion. We will not chase you up on this, it is your responsibility to submit this form to HGK before the pay period deadline. HGK will not be held responsible for any hours that you have not attested to, nor will we be held responsible for any attestation forms not received at the office on time.
Attestation forms can be submitted by NZ Post, scan/email or fax. We do not need to have the original form so a scan/email/fax will suffice. Once again HGK will not be held responsible for these not arriving at our office on time.
Failure to complete an attestation form and submit it on time will mean that your child is not eligible for funding for ECE.
ECE is not payable on weekends /public holidays or if your caregiver is unable to provide care.
It is suggested that you try to attest to as many hours as possible on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and the balance, if any, on Fridays. The reason for this is so that you can get the maximum entitlement most of the time as most public holidays each year fall on Mondays.
28/9/09
This is Natalie's house, one of our Auckland Educators. Natalie invited all her 'Mum's' around for morning tea and to socialise. You can read all about it Here and see more pictures.
25/9/09
Today we were lucky to be able to have a tour through the recently built new Police station. Policeman Craig met us at the front lobby and showed us all around. We saw the jail, cameras, police cars, a police dog called Gruff and we even saw where the policemen eat their lunch. It was a great tour and enjoyed by all.
7/9/09
This is Rachelle! One of our Coordinators for Wellington...and in her spare time a part time Newspaper Star.
2/9/09
Dog Day Afternoon
Doggy daycare at it's best. Here at the office, staff are allowed to bring their dogs to work.
This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because no one here thinks a dog should be left alone all day, but bad as we can no longer get near the heater!
Above are Basil, Roxy, and Cassie
28/7/09
Swine Flu Update
Changed message from Ministry of Health
The Ministry of Health is concerned at the increase in the number of people who are being hospitalised with H1N1 Swine Flu.
Schools and early childhood services are generally the first places where changes to patterns in community infection appear. To closely monitor numbers of cases, the Ministry of Health has asked that you contact your local DHB if:
• the numbers of absences because of illness are significantly above those you would normally expect from seasonal flu at this time of year. (NB many schools and early childhood services expect an absenteeism rate of around 15 per cent at this time of year.)
• you think there is something unusual about the rate or nature of illness.
This is a change from the previous request which asked that you inform the Ministry of Health if absences were above 30 per cent.
While most cases of swine flu remain mild, there is an increase in the number requiring hospital treatment. Data from the education sector is vital to track the rate of increase and ensuring health services are prepared.
For medical advice HEALTHLINE 0800 611 116 or www.moh.govt.nz
For more information
• Ministry of Education regional and local office managers
• Education Helpline 0800 225 580
• New Zealand School Trustees Association Helpdesk: 0800 STAHELP (0800 782 435) Fax: (04) 473 4706 helpdesk@nzsta.org.nz
23/7/09
New Logon Information
Educators and Nannies are advised that with the upgraded security on our new website, you will need to email Gwyn for a new ID and Password, as your old one will no longer work. We are processing these as fast as we can but there may be a small delay in your membership becoming active.
22/6/09
Swine Flu
The Ministry of Health has put out a statement today (see below) on Swine Flu. As a result of this, HG Kids are no longer reccomending a 7 day exclusion period for children who have travelled internationally recently. Basically it's business as usual with some precautions as stated below.
Pandemic – Moving to the next phase
19 June 2009
The Minister of Health announced this morning that New Zealand is transitioning to a “manage it” phase in its Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu strategy. The containment phase has helped restrict the number of cases and slowed the spread of the virus.
The slow spread has been due to the efforts of border control, public health services, schools and early childhood services in identifying and responding to cases as they emerged. The continuing aim is to reduce the impact of the virus on people, communities and the health system at a time when they are already managing the usual winter flu increases.
What does moving to the next phase mean?
Public health authorities in Wellington and Christchurch have announced that they have moved into the new phase today. Auckland is also planning this shift by Monday and it is likely that most other areas of New Zealand will follow very shortly. You can read the Ministry of Health media release here www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/influenza-a-h1n1-update-eighty-190609.
It is unlikely that early childhood services or schools will be advised to close if they have suspected or confirmed cases, unless they are in an area still in the containment phase. The Ministry of Health advises that there is no need for any restrictions on people returning to work, school or their early childhood service after an overseas trip, unless they have symptoms.
Gatherings such as parent teacher evenings, sports tournaments can continue, with the usual precautions.
Students or staff with symptoms should stay at home in line with normal practice.
Hygiene measures should continue including hand washing before and after eating, keeping hands away from mouths, and covering mouths when coughing or sneezing.
Care should be taken that students who have particular medical conditions or who are susceptible to infection avoid contact with people who have symptoms.
The Ministry of Health wishes to acknowledge the responsiveness of early childhood services and schools, and the measures they have taken to slow the spread of the virus.The Ministry appreciates the additional workload this has meant for everyone involved.
Members
North Shore- Auckland- end of the year Xmas Playgroup. 3 December It was a drizzly day but we carried on with our plan to have a Christmas Playgroup at Marlborough Park.
This is Rachelle! One of our Coordinators for Wellington...and in her spare time a part time Newspaper Star.
left alone all day, but bad as we can no longer get near the heater!