New Zealand Council of Christian Social Services

Today we’re thrilled to release "Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki: Exploring the context of middle childhood in Aotearoa New Zealand". This free online resource is designed to support understanding of middle childhood (ages 5 – 12 years) in our country. Middle childhood is a crucial stage of development and until now it hasn’t been easy find up-to-date information specific to this age stage. "Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki" seeks to change that. A one-stop shop for parents, caregivers, and kaimahi working with children, it's full of valuable insights and information relevant right now in our country. Drawing on local and international sources, "Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki" takes a deep dive into middle childhood, covering topics such as holistic development, whānau and community dynamics, key relationships, and children’s rights and legislation. The guide provides easy-to-read information with links to more in-depth knowledge for those who want to explore more - it is designed to be dipped in and out of. We hope "Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki" will increase understanding of this age stage among a wide range of people, including: ·      those interested in learning more about their own kids ·      those who work closely with children ·      those with the power to create policies which support all tamariki in Aotearoa. Please help us spread the word by sharing it with your networks. With thanks to The Tindall Foundation for their generous support of this project. You can download "Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki" from our website now! (link in comments)

We learned so many new things while creating our soon-to-be released guide, "Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki: Exploring the context of middle childhood in Aotearoa New Zealand". One was the continued importance of play in middle childhood (5-12 years old), and how easy it is for many kids to stop playing as they get older. Research shows that the more opportunities tamariki have to create their own fun, the more resilient, capable and confident they will be. Play not only sets them up to learn, play is learning. In our free, easy-to-read guide, we explore different aspects of play, outline the research that supports it, showcase the importance of play in Te Ao Māori and highlight the opportunities to bring more play into middle childhood. We learned so much more and we’re thrilled to be sharing this knowledge in "Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki", released TOMORROW. If you’d like to be one of the first to receive it, sign up to our mailing list here (link in comments) And please help us spread the word by sharing this with your networks. With thanks to The Tindall Foundation for their generous support of this project.

Later this week we’re releasing our free guide Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki: Exploring the context of middle childhood in Aotearoa New Zealand. We couldn’t create a guide about children aged 5 – 12 years old without including them. We feel very lucky to have had Kiwi kids contribute at every stage, from our initial research through to final draft. Their views, writing and artwork is featured throughout Te Korero mō ngā Tamariki, alongside our work which is an intro to nearly everything there is to know about this important age stage. If you’d like to be one of the first to receive it later this week, sign up to our mailing list here: https://lnkd.in/gCgYpYK5 And please help us spread the word by sharing this with your networks. With thanks to the Tindall Foundation for their generous support of this project.

Ever heard of middle childhood? Most people haven’t – but it’s a crucial development stage (for 5-12 year olds) which needs greater understanding and awareness. Later this week we’ll be releasing our new report "Te Kōrero mō ngā Tamariki: Exploring the context of middle childhood in Aotearoa New Zealand". This easy-to-read guide brings together a wide variety of information about middle childhood, previously scattered across the internet, into one resource. If you’d like to be one of the first to receive it later this week, sign up to our mailing list now (link in comments). And please help us spread the word by sharing this with your networks. With thanks to the Tindall Foundation for their generous support of this project.

Lifeline Aotearoa has been serving and supporting New Zealanders for 60 years! Many don't know that it's part of Presbyterian Support Northern, who we're proud to say is one of our members. Their CEO Dr Bonnie Robinson MNZM is our co-Chair - listen below as she speaks with RNZ about the challenges Lifeline are facing today.

This short survey from Alzheimer's Disease International will look at attitudes and stigma towards dementia mate wareware across the world. Both global and national insights will be reported. We know how useful it is to have data on a local scale, so please take ten minutes to complete the survey online.

Calling all community and voluntary organisations! Get your voice heard in the 2024 State of the Sector survey from Community Networks Aotearoa. Done every two years, this survey is an integral snapshot into our sector. The data will help to identify trends, address challenges, share experiences and find collective solutions for the sector as a whole.

There's still time to register for the "Being Trauma-informed in Practice" online workshops with Dr. Nicola Atwool, starting this Thursday. The workshop offers an overview of the knowledge needed to strengthen trauma-informed practice and consider the implications with different age groups including children, rangatahi, and adults. There is a strong focus on practice within the Aotearoa context including attention to the cultural dimension of trauma and trauma-informed practice. It is designed for kaimahi across the social services sector working with individuals, families and whānau, who are either newer to the sector or trauma-informed practice training, and also those kaimahi who are wanting to deepen their learning around their trauma-informed practice. Thanks Social Service Providers Aotearoa for providing this opportunity.

TL;DR: Last year we went to the polls without manifestos from most of the parties. In our submission on the 2023 Election, we recommend there should be a set date for all parties to release their manifesto so voters can make fully informed choices. This week we made a submission to the Inquiry into the 2023 General Election, with three main points: - Day-of enrolments are important and should remain in place - The voting age should be lowered to 16 years old - It should be a requirement that all political parties release full manifestos in order to be on the ballot. We realised the importance of manifestos during our coverage of Election 2023. Our aim was to create neutral, clear, accessible information about parties' policies and promises, so voters could make a fully informed choice. We planned to get this info from manifestos, press releases and some direct contact. We couldn't do this because the information wasn't there. A manifesto is one document which outlines all the policies a party plans to put in place if they are elected. It should be the basis of any campaign. But, of the six parties now in the House, only three released the majority of their policies before polls opened. One party manifesto was released well in advance of polling and consistently campaigned on. Another party released the majority of their policies quite early but never presented them in one document. Another party released their full manifesto the day before local polls opened but a week after overseas voting had begun. The three other parties seemed to drip-feed their policies throughout the campaign and up until the day before polls closed, mainly through press releases and soundbites. We have never seen a complete manifesto from them (and we have asked). The absence of manifestos not only makes it difficult for the public to make fully informed decisions about who to vote for, it also makes it impossible to hold the parties to account. So we had an idea. What if releasing your manifesto - outlining what you stood for, what policies you were campaigning on, and how you would put these plans in place if elected - what if this was a requirement for eligibility to be on the ballot? This would mean that a party and all its candidates couldn't appear on people's voting slips unless they told us in advance what we were voting for. In Rachel Mackay's blog last year she called for Manifesto Day to be in place for our next Election (link in comments). We've followed this up by making it one of our key points of our submission to the Inquiry into the 2023 General Election (link in comments). Submissions can be made until 11.59pm on Monday next week (link in comments). Anyone can make a submission and we encourage everyone to take five minutes to do so. If you agree with us on the importance of Manifesto Day, please add this to your submission. If you've never done a submission before, check the comments for a "how to" guide.