CLAUDLANDS EVENTS’ CENTRE, HAMILTON, 9–12 JULY
The conference venue is the very new Claudlands Events’ Centre on the East side of Hamilton. It is just a short walk from the Centre to the town bridge, across the mighty Waikato River and into Hamilton’s lively CBD. The Waikato river has become a defining feature for Hamilton and subsequent councillors have invested heavily in its development. There are now extensive walking tracks on both east and west river banks which are beautifully planted and well used by joggers, bikers and walkers. These walkways offer escape and tranquillity from the bustle of the busy city. Hamilton boasts a number of Olympian medallist rowers and it is not unusual in the early evening to see the new generation of rowers training on the river. A very popular bar and café culture has developed at the southern end of the CBD and there is no shortage of botanical gardens, historical and cultural activities to entertain visitors. The timing of Conference 2013 ensures delegates will conclude the school term not only well informed with many new exciting ideas, and inspired and motivated for Term 3, but also on the door step of the greater Central North Island region. Following your professional learning experience with us we invite you to take in the numerous tourism highlights in the Waikato/Raglan areas, or perhaps venture a little further to the Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupo or Waitomo areas all of which are just a short drive away. Check out the conference website at www.nzpfconference.co.nz and register now to make sure you take advantage of early bird rates. The people of the Waikato are already looking forward to meeting and hosting you and your colleagues in July next year.
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Strength in PErfOrmanCE Strength in PErfOrmanCE
It is now time to start planning for the annual NZPF Conference, this year to be hosted by the Waikato Principals’ Association in the city of Hamilton, in the last week of term two. Usually annual conference involves expensive flights which stretch budgets especially for small schools. Having the conference in Hamilton means that the vast majority of you can drive your car to conference where parking is not a problem. Hamilton is a short drive from Auckland and north, a brief trip from the Bay of Plenty and moderate distance from Taranaki. It is likely to be one of the cheapest conferences you will attend this year! The conference will be three days of inspiration with the theme “Power to Innovate” providing an exciting backdrop for a series of high quality national & international speakers, along with energetic discussion and professional debate. Professional development (PD) is a critical feature of school leadership. Opportunities to participate in PD have diminished in recent years and the NZPF annual conference has thus become very popular. Organisers are aware of this and have applied concentrated effort in choosing programme speakers who will cover a broad spectrum of current and emerging issues. Organisers are proud to have secured Te Radar as MC for the conference and Sir Graham Henry, a trained educator himself, will also be addressing us. We anticipate a vibrant social calendar too, involving generous sponsors who will be focused on networking with educational delegates from around New Zealand and overseas. Events planned in the evenings and beyond the Conference will also appeal to delegates and partners.
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Three kiwi mums create international demand for out-of-school care Safe Kids In Daily Supervision Ltd, under the stewardship of three working mothers, began serving its 100th New Zealand primary school in January. The organisation has grown from serving less than 20 schools in 2006. The working mothers, Dawn Engelbrecht, Bev Parsons and Chris Bartels, who are now full time directors of sKids, have won a number of awards along the way and are now seeing their “model” for out-of-school care taken to Australia and England. sKids is now New Zealand’s largest provider of out-of-school care. Dawn Engelbrecht said she and Bev were both running their own sKids centres when they met in 2006. Their decision to invest
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in and expand the service was based on nothing more than their own demanding maternal expectations for their own children. “Very soon after we took over we asked Chris Bartels to join us and since then the demand has just kept growing.” The three working mothers captured the disciplines they were developing, into comprehensive operating manuals and created a foundation for consistent performance, no matter who might be in charge of a sKids centre on any day and in any school in New Zealand. “But in the past six years, there has been a growing awareness that after school care can contribute much more to school outcomes. This is something we knew from the outset,” said Dawn. “We have created a model of child care based on balanced rest, exercise, mental stimulation and nutrition. “We also understood the limitations of two working parents and single parent families and how the one or two hours in which we have responsibility for their children can be a great help for them and a settled family life. “It has been largely parental common sense that has created the demand for our way of caring for children.” That demand in New Zealand now sees the ideas of three working mothers offered to over 3000 New Zealand children every school day in New Zealand. sKids children are also now being cared for in Australia and England with interest being shown in other countries. To find out more about sKids, please contact chris@skids.co.nz or visit www.skids.co.nz