Tēnā koutou katoa, malo e lelei, talofa lava, ni sa bula vinaka, talohani, kia orana, fakalofa lahi atu and blessings and warm greetings to you all. 

With Bishop Steve Lowe’s approval a memorandum of understanding has been signed between Jubilee Early Childhood Limited and Our Place Early Learning Centre in Frankton for Our Place to operate as a Catholic Early Childhood Centre.  We are delighted that Our Place is now officially a Catholic early childhood education service, and give them our prayers and best wishes.

ERO says that next steps could include:

• engaging more deeply with Te Whāriki to build a shared understanding of expectations associated with reviewing and designing your local curriculum by asking: “What are our curriculum priorities? What really matters for the children in our service?”

• unpacking and discussing the learning outcomes in Te Whāriki as part of your planning, assessment and evaluation processes by asking: “What do these learning outcomes look like in our service for our children?”

• Identifying your next steps and priorities for PLD by asking: “What are our next steps as we engage with Te Whāriki? What support do we need to take these steps?

Read the report here - Engaging with Te Whāriki (2017)

An email today from Val Penrose, supervisor of Jubilee Catholic Early Childhood Centre in Hamilton, has alerted me that there is now some mismatch between these two documents. I had read the updated Te Whāriki when it first came out, and did not realise there was mismatch, unfortunately, so I am very grateful to Val for drawing this to my attention. We will work on this in the New Year, will consult, and will probably set up a working group. Meantime, I would be grateful for any thoughts on this to be sent to me before 20 December 2018. This would help shape our consideration of what needs to be done. Also, if you would like to be part of the working group, please let me know (s.apathy@nzceo.org.nz).

Article originally from the Catholic Leader, link here to original.

Saint peg-doll exchange success – first educators bringing the Gospel to life for their children

November 12, 2018

By Staff writers

Dolls of saints: A selection of the saint peg dolls created for the Mother Effect saint peg-doll exchange.

WHEN Brisbane mother Melissa Haworth pitched the idea of a saint peg-doll exchange to the Mother Effect Ministry team four months ago, she had no idea the impact it would have on mums around Australia.

Mrs Haworth, who had seen saint peg-doll exchanges being done in America via social media thought it would be a fun and useful activity to undertake.  “I liked the idea of creating something to teach our kids about saints,” Mrs Haworth said. 

Initially only expecting about 15 participants, the project drew registrations from around Australia, leading to just under 50 families participating to produce about 600 individually painted saint peg dolls.

Mums from rural and city locations across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland each selected a saint they would like to paint.

A major motivation for the unique project was to offer a source of engagement for mothers who might feel isolated raising their young children.

“Mother Effect is passionate about growing the domestic Church,” founder Carrie McCormack said. “We network with families and parishes to activate family initiatives in their local area.” 

Part of this networking drew the attention of The Makers Table, a Catholic crafting group from Sydney.  The Makers Table and Mother Effect hosted painting sessions in their respective cities to give mums an opportunity to paint and connect with each other. 

Participants not located in these cities were encouraged to engage via social media to share the progress of their saints and encourage each other.

“It was a beautiful experience of connection with other mums for me,” Janine, from Armidale, said. “It empowered me to try something new too.”

With the success of the saint peg-doll exchange, plans are already underway for a future peg-doll exchange early next year, this time focusing on characters from the Bible. “This equips the parents as first educators and brings the Gospel to life in the home,” Mrs McCormack said.

I know you will all be having a wonderful time moving into setting up of an Advent wreath in your service singing Advent songs, and telling the Christmas story with appropriate songs as you get just a little closer to Christmas. St Francis of Assisi left us a wonderful legacy by setting up the first Christmas crib, for the sake of the ordinary folks around him!  May Christmas be a blessed season for you and the families associated with your service.

Thank you, God bless, and goodbye.  I retire from NZCEO at the end of this year, so this is my last newsletter to you.  Carol Coddington (currently principal of St Dominic’s College, Henderson, Auckland) will take over as Deputy CEO.

Thank you for your friendship and your enthusiasm for Catholic early childhood education. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to learn from you, and to contribute in a small way to what you do.  I will hope to get occasional news of your wonderful work in the years ahead

Mā te Atua koe e manaaki, e tiaki hoki – May God bless you and keep you

Susan Apáthy, Deputy CEO, NZCEO

New Zealand Association of Catholic Early Childcare Organisations
C/- New Zealand Catholic Education Office
PO Box 12307, Wellington 6144
Phone 04 496 1739
Website www.nzceo.org.nz
Email nzceooffice@nzceo.org.nz or s.apathy@nzceo.org.nz

Catholic early childhood curriculum: Anne Kennedy
National Centre for Religious Studies (NCRS)
email: ncrs@tci.ac.nz, or a.kennedy@tci.ac.nz