Learning Links Childcare

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[learninglinkschildcare]

This week at Hector Drive we have celebrated New Zealand Chinese language week.  The tamariki have been given an array of learning opportunities to immerse themselves in the Chinese culture, along with exploring Mandarin.Our tamariki have made moon cakes, dumplings, giant panda, dragons, learnt what their zodiac animal is and practiced using chop sticks - putting this into practice with our dumpling lunch on Thursday.

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IMPORTANT UPDATE 3 October 2021 To Families and Staff of Learning Links Borman Road and Hector Drive Re Level 3 Sent by email. Unfortunately, here we are back in Level 3. The same Level 3 Health and Safety protocols will be in place, and these can be viewed at www.learninglinkschildcare.co.nz For those needing care please reply to this email now. We will initially be operating 1 bubble for 10 children at Hector Drive and 1 bubble for 10 children at Borman Road. It is also likely that reduced hours of operating will be required. If you need care please reply now with your child’s name and essential hours/day of care requirements. We will then contact you directly to confirm. For those not attending, parent fees are suspended are there is no action required. You do not need to reply to this email. For staff at both centres the majority will remain at home and Rebekah/ Marie will be in contact shortly to finalise staff rosters. Normal pay continues as usual this week. As a reminder, under Level 3 there will be some changes to normal Childcare services and we have summarised them as below. Each Centre Manager will be available to answer any questions. Alternatively feel free to call Gavin Hazelden directly on 021 799644. On the day for all families and staff attending What will be different for families, children, staff and visitors in order to comply with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Education guidelines. - Our bubble is limited to 10 children per centre. These children will be the same 10 during the week. Only one bubble will operate in each centre. - All families and children will need to remain outside until invited in by the teacher to the reception area. If it is raining or weather poor, families can come inside to reception as long as social distancing is maintained. - All families and children to remain at reception until invited in by the teacher to the room. - We highly recommend only 1 family member enter the centre with the child. The adult will need to wear a face mask. - All other visitors / couriers etc may not enter the building. - In the first instance Hand sanitizer to be used at reception by all people entering the centre. - One teacher will be assigned the duty of signing in/out the child on the tablet rather than each parent using the tablet. The parent will need to advise their Pin number to ensure we can trace this person if required (Please note the person who are dropping of the child need to use their own individual pin number. Our teams will have a print out of the families pin number as required). The teacher will wipe the tablet after use. All parents will need to complete morning wellness check and supply their contact details if not already held. - If you or someone in your bubble is unwell please do not attend. Contact Healthline or your GP. - We are not permitted to provide meals. Families will need to provide lunchboxes for all meals. We will provide water and if it is usual to provide your child’s water bottle then that can continue. - Children’s bags can continue to be placed in lockers and teachers can assist. - For shared services such as toilets, handbasins, nappy change and door handles we will stagger the use of these and clean between use. - Teachers will carry out touch point sanitization on a regular basis. - Our cleaning team will disinfect surfaces and resources each evening including child lockers used. - The sandpit area will not be available for use during Level 3. There will also be restrictions on outdoor areas available. - We will adopt a zero tolerance for all unwell people. The most important aspect is regular communication between all of us. - We will encourage social distancing and our team will balance this and the practicalities of providing the love and care your child needs. - All people attending will regularly wash and dry their hands, we will discourage touching faces and encourage children not to as well. We will remind everyone about coughing in their elbows or into a tissue to be disposed of. - All excursions have ceased until further notice. All staff and children will remain onsite for the duration of the day. Thank you once again for your support. On our website you can access (or simply ask us for a copy of the following) - Letter to families, Letter to Staff, Ministry of Education Bulletins, Covid 19 Guidance from Ministry of Education, Checklist for Alert L3, Alert L3 Table, Worksafe Plan. Kind Regards

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Level 3 update 2pm. By now many of you will have heard the announcement today that Hamilton city is going into Level 3 lockdown from midnight tonight. This means we will be operating a maximum of 10 children in the bubble which is for essential workers and those who need care whilst they work in Level 3. A communication will be sent out at 4pm to all families with more details. For more details on what Level 3 looks like please refer https://www.learninglinkschildcare.co.nz/covid-19/

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[learninglinkschildcare]

Happy South African Heritage Day  what a fun day we have had celebrating with music, dance, story telling and face-paint in South African flag colours.  Christelle even bought in a yummy South African dessert, melktert.

[learninglinkschildcare]

Kia ora whanau!In Celebration of Maori Language Week, todays mat-time was full of waiata, panui, whakarongo and ako.The main highlight was how to draw a Koru and learning what it represents. Teaching our Tamariki that the Koru symbol is often used in Maori art and represents creation and means "the unfolding of new life that everything is reborn and continues.Noho ora whanau!

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Malo e Lelei Grace Family! What a great time we had today we hope you enjoyed todays mat-time as much as we did. Thank you for joining. Tomorrow we have something better planed for our mat-time so come and join in the morning as Aunty Shiree will be teaching us how to weave with paper so all you need is paper, scissors, sellotape or glue and felts incase you want to colour your paper in, along with learning some Tongan phrases and words. For the afternoon we have planned to listen to some traditional Tongan stories!! Make sure your listening because Aunty Shiree, Aunty Fisi and Aunty Baylino will be asking some questions in between each story and you may get a "RANDOM PRIZE" so make sure you have your listening ears on!

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Malo e lelei! Happy Tongan Language week! To celebrate Lea Faka-Tonga, our tamariki will be learning one Tongan work and phrase every day. Our first word is "Felotu’aki" which means the process of praying for each other especially during unprecedented times. This year’s theme for Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga - Tonga Language Week is Fakakoloa 'o Aotearoa 'aki 'a e Ako Lelei, which means enriching Aotearoa with holistic education. Today our tamariki will be making their very own Tongan fan. What they need is the following: Paper or any cardboard (empty muesli/cereal/drink box) Scissors Glue stick or cellotape Coloured pens Leaves and flowers from outside to decorate fan Small stick for the handle, can be a small stick/popsicle stick A reminder that our short prayer for our family, friends and community is: Dear Jesus, please look after all our family & friends during Covid. Amen Daily mat-times at 10.30am & 1.30pm. See you on Zoom.

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Gooi dag almal, More is Suid Afrika erfenisdag. Good day to all, Tomorrow is South African Heritage Day. On the 24th of September (TOMORROW) our centre wish to celebrate heritage day by dressing in green and yellow and learning a Afrikaan phrase which is traditional for this day. No worries if you don't have anything that is green or yellow as we will have face paint avaliable too. The phrase we will be learning on this day will be "Hang aan n tak" Which translates to "hold on a sec" We would love for you to give the phrase a try

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Spring is here!! We are so lucky to have had some special visitors today!A big Thank you to Daisy’s family for bringing in their pet lambs!

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We are so excited to share this beautiful post with you allA big thank you to our kaiako Dani for painting such a beautiful mural for our outdoor environment, and to Anne one of our parents for adding such a meaningful whakataukī.Learning Links Montessori is proudly supporting this years Māori Language Moment.

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Kia Kaha te reo Māori - Let's make the Māori language strong is our theme for this year's Māori language week.The tamariki in Preschool rumā have been very engaged in learning te reo through colours and the best way to teach them is through peita. The tamariki decided to learn colours through slime and it was wonderful to see them all waiting for their turns and mahi ngatahi (work together) enjoying this sensory play.Our tamariki also enjoyed the korero around the art tepu about the different colours in English and then learning them in te reo. What amazing artwork you have created.

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Kaiako support mokopuna to engage respectfully with, and to have aroha for, Papatūānuku. They encourage an understanding of kaitiakitanga and the responsibilities of being a kaitiaki by, for example, caring for rivers, native forest, and birds.” Te Whāriki, page 33.With the days turning into Spring our tamariki in  the Young Children’s room enjoyed exploring their senses with some messy play whilst taking care of their environment. They were displaying respect for papatuanuku and preparing our gardens for some planting.

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8 September 2021To all Whanau, Families and Staff of Learning Links and The FarmyardRe: COVID 19 UPDATEWe are all set to welcome families back from this Thursday with the centre now operating its normal hours.Since the announcement on Tuesday, we have been reviewing all the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health guidelines for Level 2.  A copy of these documents and our work safe plan is now on our website.Craig Bleakley from Crombie Lockwood who is a Workplace Risk Manager has again reviewed these documents and makes the following comments:“I have reviewed all of the documentation, and your revised safety plan, and am satisfied to endorse the measures and protocols that you will have in place.  It was interesting to see that the MoE has not made the use of Hand Sanitiser to be a compulsory action, it was very good though to see that you have maintained the use of sanitiser for all staff and families on site for drop offs/pickups.Whilst Level 2 may seem like a return to normal, all staff and families need to be hyper-vigilant in the following of the standard safety protocols and to keep away from the centre if a staff member or child are showing any cold/flu symptoms.  There are still community cases getting reported in the Auckland area and it would only take one single event contact event to close down your centre and require strict isolation measures. Continue to err on the side of caution every time and don’t assume a “she’ll be right” attitude if you have a sore throat, high-ish temperature or runny nose. It is simply not worth the risk.”We can confirm the following conditions for Level 2.• Parents are asked to keep any sick children at home. If a sick child comes to the service, or shows symptoms, send them home. The same principle applies for staff.• Young children require a lot of physical support and it is not possible to explain or maintain a physical distance between young children given the age of the children and set up of centres. This means good hygiene practices are even more important. There does not need to be a measurable physical distance between children or children and staff.  • Ensure all children and adults regularly wash and dry their hands.• Ensure hand sanitiser is available for use and should be used on entering the centre by all.• Outdoor play areas can be used, including sandpits.• Excursions can recommence.• Disinfect and clean all surfaces daily.• Contact tracing (via tablet logon) must be in place to record who is on site every day.• Face masks are not required and this is an individual choice.• Food / drinks/utensils are not to be shared.• For those centres with commercial kitchens a more simple meal will be provided this Thursday and Friday before resuming our Winter menu on Monday.When you come to the centre you will see signage encouraging social distancing and requiring the use of hand sanitisers on entry to the centre. We will maintain contact tracing through the use of the sign in / out tablets as usual.  As mentioned earlier, all centres will return to normal operating hours and fees will recommence from this Thursday.  If this does cause financial difficulty, please talk in confidence to the centre manager/supervisor and we will work with you.  If your child is not returning this week, then there is nothing further you need to do, and we look forward to seeing you next week.Jo and I would like to pay special thanks to all the amazing staff who have worked so tirelessly since the start of the lockdown either in front of the camera or behind the scenes, thank you.As always if you have any questions or concerns at all please talk to us.  We look forward to seeing you soon.Thank you once againJoanna Purdie Gavin Hazelden

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6 September 2021 To all Whanau and Families of Learning Links and The Farmyard Re: COVID 19 UPDATE With the Prime Minister announcing earlier today the movement to Level 2 we look forward to welcoming all of you back from Thursday 9 September. Whilst we await Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health final guidelines for Level 2, we are working on the same principles of Level 2 as we have done in the past. You can be assured that in Alert Level 2 we will know who is at our service, who our staff and children have been in close contact with and take appropriate measures to keep everyone safe. All our Centre Managers/ Supervisors have worked through operating in Level 3 and have a firm grip over the new policies/procedures. Again, given the importance of getting the best possible advice; we engaged Craig Bleakley from Crombie Lockwood who is a Workplace Risk Manager with experience in ECE. We have shared with him our Covid 19 Safety Plan and the relevant Ministry of Education (MOE) bulletins. He will also be reviewing the updated Ministry and Ministry of Health updated guidelines as soon as they arrive tomorrow. Based on information we have received to date; we expect more than 90% of families will be with us from this Thursday and the remainder joining us from Monday. On that basis the centre will be open as usual with a full team from Thursday and fees will recommence. If this does cause any hardship, please contact your centre manager and we can work with you. For those centres who have a commercial kitchen facility we will on the Thursday and Friday provide a simpler menu to meet the nutritional needs of your child before gearing up for the full menu from Monday. In terms of guidelines we would expect to be announced these will be: • Parents are asked to keep any sick children at home. If a sick child comes to the service, or shows symptoms, send them home. • Young children require a lot of physical support and it is not possible to explain or maintain a physical distance between young children given the age of the children and set up of centres. This means good hygiene practices are even more important. There does not need to be a measurable physical distance between children or children and staff. • Ensure all children and adults regularly wash and dry their hands. • Ensure hand sanitiser is available but staff/kaimahi supervise its location and use. • Outdoor play areas can be used, including sandpits. • Disinfect and clean all surfaces daily. • Contact tracing must be in place to record who is on site every day. When you come to the centre you will see signage encouraging social distancing and requiring the use of hand sanitisers on entry to the centre. We will maintain contact tracing through the use of the sign in / out tablets as usual. As always, if you have any questions or concerns at all please talk to us. We look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you once again Joanna Purdie Gavin Hazelden

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2pm 31 August 2021 To all Whanau, Families and staff of Learning Links Childcare and The Farmyard Re: Covid 19 Update For those essential workers or those who cannot work from home we have arranged for all centres (except Alexandra St Te Awamutu where children will attend Rewi St during L3) to be open. We have sent you a separate letter earlier today outlining procedures that need to be adhered to. Please read this carefully as it ensures the safety of everyone during Level 3 operations. Staff who are working at the centres have this morning reviewed all the necessary documentation for operating in Level 3. Given the importance of getting the best possible advice; we engaged Craig Bleakley from Crombie Lockwood who is a Workplace Risk Manager with experience in Early Childhood Education. We have shared with him our Covid 19 Safety Plan, MOE Covid 19 guidance, 29 & 30 August Early Learning Bulletin and the Early Learning Service Checklist for Alert Level 3. He has reviewed all of these documents and confirms we have put in place all necessary steps for preserving everyone’s safety. A copy of these documents will be on our websites shortly or available at the centre. Craig will also work with us as we progress to Level 2 and Level 1 ensuring we receive and implement the best possible practices. For those of you who have children remaining at home, our team will continue to support you during Level 3. Please note that families will not receive an invoice today as you normally would. For children attending the centre from Wednesday 1 September (Level 3), invoices will be emailed next Tuesday 8 September. Children not attending will remain at zero fees. Thank you once again for your support and like you we look forward to heading down to Level 2 where all children will be permitted to attend. If there is anything further we can do to assist and support you please reach out to the Centre Manager or give Jo or myself a call. Kind Regards Joanna Purdie Gavin Hazelden