He Pānui Kōhungahunga
Early Learning Bulletin - 22 March 2022
He Pānui Kōhungahunga
E ngā ringa raupā, kei ngā whare ako puta noa i te motu, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.
Greetings and acknowledgements to all of you working hard in your learning environments.
Amongst everything else going on, Tāmaki Makaurau and Tai Tokerau have also had to combat heavy storms and rain over the last few days. I know some have been heavily impacted by this, so I hope today finds you safe.
In today’s bulletin we’ve provided upcoming changes for home-based education and care services, the second round of funding applications for costs incurred hiring relief teachers and an update on Aotearoa New Zealand histories for your interest.
Although we had the very best of intentions to move to one bulletin a week, you’ll know that tomorrow there are announcements being made by Cabinet on the COVID-19 Protection Framework, My Vaccine Pass requirements and vaccination mandates. We’ll send a bulletin with guidance on any changes which impact you and any other COVID related matters.
Hei āpōpō,
Iona
Second round: Applications for relief teacher costs now open
Early learning services may be eligible for additional support payments to fund part of the employment process costs incurred due to staff not meeting the vaccine mandate requirements. The costs must relate to relief teachers that were hired during paid notice periods.
Applications for funding have also been extended to include relief teacher hours for terminations due to staff members not having boosters.
The second round will close on Friday 15 April.
Eligible applicants will receive a payment on 1 May 2022.
Information about eligibility criteria and the application form are available on our website.
Funding settings under the new traffic light system – Te Mahau
If you have any questions about the fund or the application process, contact covid19.ecereliever@education.govt.nz
Household contacts and testing positive at different times
The Ministry of Health has provided further clarity on when household contacts should isolate.
What does it mean if I am a household contact? – Ministry of Health
For households where someone has COVID-19, the Ministry of Health recommends you apply the following guidance.
- If someone becomes a confirmed COVID-19 case, then that case and all other people in their household must isolate for seven days.
- If someone else in the household then tests positive for COVID-19 during those seven days:
- the isolation period for that person only re-sets – that person must isolate for an additional seven days from the day they test positive or symptoms begin
- other household contacts who do not test positive are still able to leave isolation after the original case has completed their seven days isolation.
- For the next 10 days after a household completes seven days isolation, evidence shows that due to their exposure to COVID-19 they are less likely to catch or transmit the virus. This means:
- if someone else in the household tests positive within those 10 days, the whole household will not have to re-isolate, only the positive case
- if someone else in the household tests positive and it has been more than 10 days since the household completed isolation, household contacts should re-isolate along with the new case for seven days.
- Any person who has had COVID-19 within the last 90 days/three months will not need to isolate as a household contact unless they become symptomatic and test positive again. This is because reinfection rates for people who have had COVID-19 are low for the three months after they have the virus.
Remember, Day 0 for isolation is the day symptoms began or the day the positive test was taken (whichever came first). You should then count your seven days from there.
Upcoming regulatory changes for home-based education and care services
As outlined in the 14 December bulletin, there are some changes coming on Wednesday 1 June for home-based education and care services as a result of the Education (Early Childhood Services) Amendment Act (No 2) 2021.
Delays to new qualification requirements – Early Learning Bulletin 14 December
We wanted to remind you about these changes and will be providing further advice and guidance over the coming weeks to help you get ready.
Investigating an incident that involves a child
Tranche one of the Early Learning Regulatory Review has enabled us to reclassify a service’s licence as provisional, following an incident involving a child that the Secretary for Education considers warrants investigation.
Early Learning Regulatory Review – Ministry of Education
A provisional licence for this reason will not necessarily mean a service is non-compliant with the regulations. Instead, the service provider will be required to conduct a satisfactory investigation and provide us with a detailed investigation report by a specified date, usually within 10 working days.
We have developed optional investigation report templates for both complaints and incidents for services to consider adapting or incorporating into their existing processes.
Visit our website to access the report templates and for more information about our approach to managing complaints and incidents.
Complaints
Incidents
For your interest: Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories
Last week the final Te Takanga o Te Wā and Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories curriculum content was launched for schools and kura to begin implementing in Term 1 2023.
We know there is much interest and excitement in this new curriculum content, and we want to make sure you know where to find additional information on our national curriculum.
The new curriculum embraces the histories of all the people who live in Aotearoa New Zealand and encourages schools and kura to develop local curriculum and marau ā-kura that reflect the histories of their communities. This is to ensure that all ākonga in our schools and kura learn how our histories have shaped our present day lives.
View the final national curriculum content, supports and resources
Te Takanga o Te Wā, part of learning under the Tikanga ā-Iwi wāhanga ako of Te Marautanga o Aotearoa:
Te Takanga o Te Wā | Kauwhata Reo - Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga
Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories, part of the social sciences learning area of The New Zealand Curriculum:
Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories – Ministry of Education
To find out how we created the new curriculum content and who we worked with:
Introducing Aotearoa New Zealand’s histories – Ministry of Education
For any questions, contact AotearoaNewZealandHistories@education.govt.nz
