He Pitopito Kōrero
Update – 23 August 2022
He Pitopito Kōrero
Ahiahi mārie,
Thoughts to all of you and your communities affected by the devastating weather events around the motu and particularly at the top of the South Island.
It was a wonderful launch of the attendance and engagement awareness campaign yesterday at Rangikura School in Waitangarua. The 400 strong school population provided a proud and powerful pōwhiri.
You can find more information and resources that can be customised for your communities in this bulletin.
Ngā mihi
Iona
Additional relief funding for additional hours
We have received queries from you about whether additional hours worked by part-time teachers can be considered for additional relief funding, and we have adjusted our automatic, additional relief funding calculation.
If your school or kura has incurred an increase in additional hours in 2022, as compared to 2021, we will include this increase in the calculation to determine whether top-up relief funding will be paid.
How are additional hours calculated?
We are measuring the increase in additional hours using 2021 as the base year. This we expect will provide a fair estimate of increased relief cost that schools have incurred this year, especially considering that 2021 included COVID-19 restrictions.
Additional hours will be coded as ‘PPTAH’, ‘SPTAH’ or ‘APTAH’ in the payroll.
The increase in additional hours will be added to how we calculate your day relief (‘DDR’) costs for 2022 for relief funding purposes. We will pay the top-up relief funding if the sum of the increase in additional hours and day relief costs are greater than relief funding in your operational grant and ARTF claims paid in Term 1 and 2.
Read more about the new ARTF process and automatic payments on our website:
Additional relief teacher funding 2022 – Ministry of Education
Calculation and payment of relief teacher top-up funding will be paid at the end of September, October and November with a final wash-up at the end of January 2023.
Your school will receive a letter on the secure data portal following the calculation so that you can see your relief costs incurred to date and whether you will be receiving a top-up payment.
If you have incurred relief costs this year that will not be picked up by ‘DDR’ or additional hours in the payroll, please complete this form on our website:
Application form for relief teacher costs 2022 – Ministry of Education
Return the form to resourcing@education.govt.nz to have your relief costs included in the additional relief teacher funding calculation.
Remember that you can still choose to submit ARTF claims for relief costs incurred (including additional hours paid) for Term 1 and 2. We are continuing to work through the large volume of claims received and we apologize if you are still waiting for payment.
When paying your part-timer teachers additional hours, you will need to adhere to the collective agreement requirements as set out in our bulletin:
Additional relief teacher funding – School Bulletin 9 August
If you experience financial challenges this year, due to incurring higher relief costs than in previous years, contact your school finance advisor or your local Te Mahau office for advice and support.
Household contact definition for school camps and trips
The Ministry of Health has recently updated its definition of a household contact, which may impact your planning for, and response to, COVID-19 cases on school camps and trips.
You are a household contact if you:
- normally share a residence with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 (either on a permanent or part-time, or shared custody basis)
- spent at least one night or day (more than eight hours) in that residence while the person with COVID-19 was infectious
- don’t normally share a residence with the positive case but have spent a night together in the same room.
School hostels continue to be specifically excluded from the above definition (the same applies to other group accommodation providers such as backpackers, halls of residences and boarding houses).
You may wish to review your contingency plans if someone tests positive for COVID-19 while on a trip as it will be necessary to manage household contacts for a period of time.
How will I know if I’m a household contact? – Ministry of Health
To stay up to date with the latest education outside the classroom (EOTC) guidance, register with the national coordinator database.
EOTC learning through COVID-19 – Education Outdoors New Zealand
Erika Ross and Steve Lindsey talk to more principals about their experiences with leading their school communities through the pandemic.
Watch these new video summaries:
Tauranga Boys’ College: Strong leadership
Waitaha School: Raising expectations
Mana College: Emotional culture
You can find the series so far on Te Mahau website:
School attendance awareness campaign launched
‘Every School Day is a Big Day’ is a new campaign to encourage school attendance. It was launched on Monday 22 August, at Rangikura School in Porirua by Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti.
The campaign is a part of ‘kia kotahi te ū ki te ako – all in for learning’, which is an on-going nation-wide strategy with a focus on supporting ākonga to attend school regularly. The campaign is in recognition that regular attendance at school is important for our children’s learning, wellbeing and futures.
Schools and kura can support the campaign in your communities. Resources are available to be downloaded, customised and used in your communications.
To read more about this campaign and access these resources, visit Te Mahau:
September roll return
This roll return is for state and state-integrated schools with students in Year 9 and above only.
This year the September roll count date is Thursday 1 September, with returns due no later than Thursday 8 September. The return is used for funding purposes.
There is no change to the process of generating your roll return. Please send the Ministry of Education file from your student management system (SMS).
Schools not using an SMS should complete the excel template provided on the Education Counts website.
September school roll return form – Education Counts
Note, if your school is using the excel template, you as principal must complete the declaration tab to confirm you have checked the roll return for audit purposes. Please make sure this is completed prior to your submission or your file will be returned.
If you have queries, email school.returns@education.govt.nz.
Final pay owing for some employees
Throughout 2021, Education Payroll (EPL) updated you on an issue that occurred relating to some employees’ jobs not being correctly finalised and final pay not being calculated in the payroll system when their employment in that job ended.
With EPL, we have remediated a number of affected current employees and we will remediate affected former employees starting from mid-August 2022.
What do you need to do?
There is nothing you need to do. We will contact affected former employees to arrange for payment of money owed to them.
Where will this payment be funded from?
We have agreed to absorb the cost of this remediation on behalf of schools.
Payments will appear and then be reversed on your SUE report. This will:
- show that no cost is incurred by your school and is for auditing purposes
- be done when the former employee is paid.
For more information see our website:
Final reminder to apply for internet connections
As part of the extension of the free internet access for learner households under the COVID-19 support plan, the Equitable Digital Access team has funding available to offer internet connectivity to additional households that are not connected up to 15 January.
If you know anyone in your school community that needs assistance with internet connectivity, please get in touch by Wednesday 31 August.
If you have any queries, contact the Equitable Digital Access helpdesk at eda@education.govt.nz or 0800 783 744.
Kia Manawaroa is the Ministry’s dedicated newsletter for whānau Māori with kids in education.
The latest issue is out now, and we encourage you to share it as appropriate by copying and pasting the information below into your regular communications with whānau.
If you would like to share good news about something happening in your community, contact us on kia.manawaroa@education.govt.nz.
Find out how to submit an article and other information about Kia Manawaroa:
Kia Manawaroa – Education: For parents and whānau
Here is the recommended copy for your communications with whānau:
Kia Manawaroa
Kia Manawaroa is the Ministry of Education’s pānui for whānau Māori.
Read the latest issue of Kia Manawaroa:
Kia Manawaroa August 2022 – Education: For parents and whānau
It is written by Māori for Māori, with information about opportunities and milestones in education, Māori success as Māori, Te Reo Māori, and COVID-19 updates relevant to whānau as and when appropriate.
The latest issue is out now with updates about:
- Te Wiki o te Reo Māori dates
- New resource to support tamariki transition into kura
- Whānau wellbeing and support
- And so much more!
Student wellbeing tool: Conceptual design competition
The ‘Student wellbeing tool: Conceptual design competition’ is now open to all ākonga enrolled, or eligible for enrolment, in Year 7 to 13. The competition is based on design thinking. Student teams – from any subject area – are invited to develop a conceptual design of a digital tool that will meet the criteria outlined. Entries must be submitted by Friday 30 September and there are great prizes at team and school level.
Register now! We have a small gift available to the first 500 student participants who register.
For more information and to register go to our website or email swm.competition@education.govt.nz.
Student wellbeing tool: Conceptual design competition – Ministry of Education
Tākarokaro: Rugby World Cup programme
Tākarokaro is an integrated approach to student learning designed for Year 5 to 10 students. The programme is available in Term 4, as the Rugby World Cup 2021 (playing in 2022) comes to Aotearoa. NZ Rugby in partnership with Sport NZ invite you to register your classes for Term 4.
For more information on the programme and to register:
Applications open for Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi
Schools can apply for funding to deliver Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi.
Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi is a strengths-based, literacy intervention that supports parents and whānau to learn strategies to positively support their children’s reading at home. It runs over four workshops (1 hour 15 minutes in length) and builds high-trust relationships between staff, parents, whānau, librarians and communities.
The programme has been found to increase children’s meaningful access to books, support whānau bonding and raise reading achievement.
How to apply
- Request an application form by emailing reading.together@education.govt.nz
- Applications are open until 31 March 2023. Schools can select which term they plan to deliver the programme (up to Term 2, 2023 – week 1 to 5 only).
To find out more about Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi visit:
Reading Together® Te Pānui Ngātahi – Education Counts
