Greetings Positive Start enthusiasts! We hope you have started 2022 in a positive manner.

*What this term looks like??

As per our last session we had discussed the possibility of linking with the wider Kåhui Ako and utilising the skill set of Lauren Latimer, a literacy facilitator. Our aim would be to investigate more of a literacy focus through the Positive Start lens. Equally, we have listened to you and ensured our Positive Start sessions do not clash with Cultural Competency or the literacy work streams that will continue to run this year.

Therefore, we look forward to seeing you all for session one which will be conducted across the Zoom platform on Tuesday 15 February. This will run from 5 – 5.30pm for a quick virtual meet and greet alongside where we are at in our spaces. We know that this timeframe will allow our Early childhood educators to join us and for our school-based kaiako, we envisage this equal opportunity to engage.

We have been in touch with a few of you in regards to our transition video – how exciting!

Closer to session one you can access the Zoom link here. Please encourage any new staff to engage with our Positive Start sessions – this is open to all our ECE and New Entrant/Junior kaiako across our Eastern Kåhui Ako. During our first session we would like you to share your creative ideas about transitioning tamariki while navigating this Covid 19 climate.

What is your space doing to continue to maintain positive relationships and share information??

Teacher to teacher level and teacher to whanau level. Please come prepared to share these ideas with our group.

Look forward to seeing you all!

Dana, Lisa & Nicole

Positive Start facilitators

Meeting Minutes from the Positive Start Hui on Tuesday 17th May 2022

Positive Start hui

Tuesday 17 May 2022 @ Gore Main School.

Present: Susan - Mataura, Bella - Te Tipua, Dana - RTLB Service, Rose & Cathy - Gore Main, Lisa & Noot - Hope preschool, Amy & Shelley - St Mary’s, Amy - EI, Kimberly - Riversdale, Denise - Funshine, Nicole & Kim - West Gore, Megan & Kelly - Longford kindy.

Welcome to Lauren Latimer, literacy advisor who embarks on this journey with us.

Focus for our mahi: Information gathering from our participants – what literacy means to you in your setting alongside where to next?? Navigation around literacy links to transition.

Learning through talk document & Te Kōrerorero frameworks as a potential starting point. Response to need – working with our tamariki, narrative assessment lens, working alongside a team. Lauren is willing to work across a variety of aspects – this can be driven by us.

Information collection: We were asked to identify how this PLD would best benefit our setting alongside what literacy currently looks like in our spaces??

Lauren to collate data and create an action plan for us going forward. We were able to share our ideas & perceptions about our own philosophies

and thoughts underpinning this literacy focus. Strengths, barriers and challenges were also identified.

How would PLD best suit your space?

Ideas that were shared: Shared professional language and expectations, awareness across sectors and expectations. Terminology

to support our learners. Shared understanding of practises alongside prioritising best practice. Investigating frameworks – what is available and what are we implementing? Embedded versus surface features. Trends across our Kāhui Ako also discussed.

Alignment of literacy processes – bring ideas for our next session together.

Participants can reach out directly to Lauren via her email address: lauren.latimer@otago.ac.nz

*Follow up from our previous Positive Start mahi:

-Transition clips on a flash drive to Dana ASAP for publication.