Early Learning Bulletin

Message from the Secretary for Education

Message from Iona Holsted

Secretary for Education - Iona Holsted Tēnā koutou katoa

This is the final He Pānui Kōhungahunga – the Early Learning Bulletin for the year, and my first as Secretary for Education. In my first message to you I wanted to take the opportunity to introduce myself, share some thoughts as we look to the coming year, and thank you all for your work throughout 2016.

I’ve been involved in education in a number of guises over the years. Originally as a primary teacher and, more recently, some of you may have come across me in my role as Chief Executive and Chief Review Officer at ERO.

It is truly a privilege to be involved in education. Education is a force for positive outcomes for all children and learners and the work that the education system does affects every person’s life in this country. As a system we will maintain our efforts to configure the system around learners, align policies and practices to that end, and judge our efforts by the results for them. This will continue to be the mahi as we move into 2017.

Just to reassure you I have no plans for big shifts and changes – our direction of travel will continue to be focused on supporting you and working with you.

With this in mind, I am going to take the time to learn more about the work that you do, what is important to you and how you think we can best support achievement. For what remains of this year I will be meeting with our Ministers and other leaders across the education system. In the meantime please feel free to contact me directly about anything at all.

Finally I just want to say I am really honoured to be here and I look forward to working with you. I hope you all get the opportunity to take a well-earned break this summer.

Ngā mihi nui

Iona

General Information Updates

Release of 2015 ECE Complaints Summary The Ministry of Education has published information on early childhood education (ECE) complaints received in 2015. This is the third annual summary of complaints information released to give parents and whānau assurance that complaints are followed up and proper action is taken. Read more on our website.	Early childhood education me ngā kōhanga reo data summary report 2015 now available We are pleased to announce that we have released Early childhood education me ngā kōhanga reo data summary report 2015 on Education Counts. The report provides a statistical summary of key aspects of the early childhood education (ECE) sector me ngā kōhanga reo in 2015 and trends over the previous ten years. It summarises the results from the June 2015 annual census of ECE services, and includes data from other sources. Find out more on our website, Education.govt.nz
Managing anaphylaxis Early childhood services me nga kōhanga reo are reminded to have policies and/or procedures in place to ensure staff and volunteers can respond to an anaphylaxis emergency and manage the risk of accidental exposure to foods with potential allergens More information is available on Education.govt.nz	New health and safety resources We have developed 3 new resources to support you with different aspects of health and safety: What needs to be notified in the education sector? Students on Work Experience: A health and safety guide for schools and employers Well-being webpage Read more about these on Education.govt.nz
Te Whāriki consultation closes Consultation on the update of New Zealand’s world leading early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, closed on Friday, 16 December. Thank you to everyone who contributed their feedback in person at one of the nationwide hui and/or online. Find out more on our website.	Early Childhood Advisory Committee The Early Childhood Advisory Committee (ECAC) last met on Wednesday 14 December 2016. The committee meets 4 times per year with senior Ministry of Education staff to share information, provide feedback on proposals and discuss strategic challenges for the early learning sector. Find out more about ECAC, including minutes from recent meetings, on the ECAC section of our website.
Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards 2017 Are you making a difference in early childhood education? Share your journey of achievement by entering the Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards 2017. Check out tips and advice from previous award category winners and finalists. To get started, go to www.pmawards.education.govt.nz. Entries close at 4pm on Friday 17 March 2017.	Calendar of key ECE Ministry dates updated There have been some updates to the Calendar of key ECE Ministry dates. As new events are added or changes are made, these will be listed under events or uploaded to the calendar. New events or changes will not automatically update in your calendar. You can choose to either download the full calendar again or add the new event separately. Instructions can be found at www.education.govt.nz.
Ministry of Education closure dates The Ministry of Education’s National Office will be closed from end of business on Friday 23 December 2016. Our office will re-open at 8am on Wednesday 4 January 2017.

ELI System

ELI reminder for the 2016 Christmas break

As you prepare for a well-earned break this holiday season we advise that you:

Read the information on preparations for the Christmas break about what to do before you leave for the holiday period, so that in the New Year you will be up-to-date with your ELI information requirements. This will ensure a smooth funding claim process from 1 February 2017.
Ensure all children enrolled at your ECE service(s) have a national student number (NSN). For more information read the instructions on how to allocate NSNs.

New ELI homepage coming soon

We are embarking on an exciting project which involves updating the ELI homepage and migrating it to the Ministry of Education’s website. The ELI homepage will still consist of all the same content and access will be available for ELI Web and ELI Reports through the ELI homepage, but the page itself will be set out differently. All links and web addresses will be automatically redirected to the new ELI homepage. We will let you know in the New Year when the change is set to occur.