38th Annual General Meeting

23rd September 2013

CONTENTS

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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2013 STAFF 2013 AGENDA PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2013 TREASURER’S REPORT 2013 DIRECTOR’S REPORT 2013 STAFF REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT 2013 EDUCATOR REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT 2013 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2013 AUDIT REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2013 APPENDIX 1: MINUTES OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2012 APPENDIX 2: ANNUAL PLAN 2013

APPENDIX 3: SATISFACTION SURVEY RESULTS

DUNEDIN COMMUNITY CHILDCARE ASSOCIATION INC.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2013

PRESIDENT: Jessica Palmer VICE-PRESIDENT: Cheryl Adams TREASURER: Mike Holley SECRETARY: Alix Lucas-Fyfe STAFF REPRESENTATIVE: Heather Fagan EDUCATOR REPRESENTATIVE: Caroline Officer COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Catherine Smith (Resigned) Tammy Whelan Mandy Phipps-Green Lisa Ransom Jane Khan Bridget Dickson Joel Oldridge Ronnie Proctor

DUNEDIN COMMUNITY CHILDCARE ASSOCIATION INC. STAFF 2012/2013 as @ 31st July

Russell Street Elm Row Linda McRae - Head Teacher Natasha Hurring - Head Teacher Chris Nairn - Asst Head Teacher Danielle Clarke - Asst Head Teacher (Maternity leave) Joanne Moir Jane Ashby - Relieving Asst Head Teacher Elizabeth Williamson (Resigned) Helen Crossley Liz Shore Fiona Cooper Cathy Hewitt (Resigned) Helen Wekking (Resigned) Nicole Baxter (Sabatical) Liz Eaton (Sabatical) Judy Rondell Cindy Hunt Naoko Hirayama Nancy Lomas Andrea Tytler Alicia Scott Nichola Brewer (one year contract) Katrina Burgess - Cook (Resigned) Jo Craig - Cook (Resigned) Katie Crick - Cook Rachelle Bennett (Cook) Jenny Atkinson -Teacher in training Tania Vigers - Teacher in training (moved) Vanessa Crawford - Teacher in trainng (Resigned)

Russell Street Nursery Koputai Kath Knox - Head Teacher (Resigned) Shiobhan Kelly - Head Teacher (Resigned) Glenys Olgivie - Head Teacher Kath Knox - Head Teacher Gina Love - Asst Head Teacher Anita Smith - Asst Head Teacher Cathy Hewitt Nicky Parsons Janna Delaney Kylie Ratten (Resigned) Rachel Taylor Kirsty Clayton Fiona Paterson Bronwyn Mitchell - Teacher in training Margaret Arthur - Long term Relieving Karen McCormack Lavinia Whyte (Resigned) Leonie Thornicroft - Cook (Retired) Kylea Cook - Cook (Resigned)Teacher in training Hannah Holzer - Cook Margaret Dixon - Cook

AKO Home-based Education and Care Sonya Jephson - Head Teacher Heather Fagan - Visiting Teacher Jane Ashby - Asst Head Teacher (Relieving AHT Elm Row) Tracy Cross - Visiting Teacher Ronda Pont Rachael Burrowes - Visiting Teacher Sue Morey Jan Johnson - Visiting Teacher Holly McPhail Linda Strang - Relieving Visiting Teacher Junita Fasia (Teacher in training) Margaret Shore - Cook (Retired) Administration

Jo Ellis - Director Penel Pask - Asst Director

Raeleene Yee - Business Finance Manager

Jenny Pont - Home-based Administrator Sharon Sharp - Centre Administrator Heather Sue - Administrator Reliever

38th ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF

DUNEDIN COMMUNITY CHILDCARE ASSOCIATION HELD ON THE

23 SEPTEMBER 2013 AT HEAD OFFICE, 5 CAVELL STREET AT 7.30 PM AGENDA

1. Welcome / Karakia Waiata

2. Apologies

3. Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting

4. Presentation of Reports - President - Treasurer - Director - Staff Representative - Educator Representative 5. Presentation of Audited Accounts 6. Election of Officers 7. Annual Subscription for membership

8. Appoint Auditor 2013/2014

9. General Business

Supper to follow

President’s Report 2013 The DCCA has had another successful year and continues to grow from strength to strength despite significant external pressures including a constrained economic climate and Government policies that have adversely affected our operations in the last few years. The Government has not given us any effective increase in funding for the past three years and we have tried very hard to keep fee increases to families minimal while still maintaining low teacher-to-child ratios and a skilled workforce of experienced and talented teachers.

Central to the success of the DCCA is a wonderful group of teachers, educators and administrative staff that is led passionately and wisely from the front by the Director, Jo Ellis and the Curriculum Leader, Penel Pask. Families choose to use the DCCA for a variety of reasons but they choose to stay with the DCCA in this very competitive environment because their children are so well cared for and expertly taught by our teachers and home-based educators. In recent years, we have placed significant emphasis on strengthening the professional development of our staff. We now have a comprehensive performance appraisal process in place implemented and modelled by Jo and Penel. All teachers set and review personal goals annually and regular check-ins and mentoring relationships are used. Teachers and educators have enthusiastically taken part in in-house professional development seminars this year led by Jo and Penel that have focussed on numeracy. There have also been regular opportunities to participate in external courses and conferences of which our staff has readily taken advantage. This year we gave serious thought to the role that Penel has played as Assistant Director over the past few years and her desire to focus primarily on building the quality of teaching in the DCCA. We have recognised this by changing the title of her role to Curriculum Leader. We are very fortunate to have Penel in this role – she is both a passionate and a talented teacher and we look forward to further development and innovation in the education of DCCA children as a result. In addition, we continue to encourage and foster multicultural learning with a particular emphasis on Tikanga Maori. This is clearly evident in many of the learning projects that have occurred in the different centres this year and at playgroups for our home-based care service. For example, Koputai teachers built a whare with their children and Elm Row teachers and children investigated their own whakapapa and displayed it visually in the centre. This year we will celebrate significant individual effort and achievement in this area by one of our teachers with the inaugural presentation of the Director’s Award for Excellence in Bicultural Development. I am proud of the value that DCCA places on top quality education and care of our children. It is a vision that is proudly shared by so many teachers and educators and one that is being fulfilled every day. This is, in my opinion, DCCA’s greatest asset and one that the Executive Committee and management of DCCA work very hard to protect and foster. Another important aspect of the DCCA is the sense of community that runs throughout our services. As well as events for families that are held in individual centres and the home-based schemes, we have several occasions throughout the year that draw together children from across the DCCA with their parents and whanau. These include our annual train trip to Palmerston, our “Move It! Move It!” fun day at the Edgar Centre, and our participation in the Otago Pasifika Festival. We also experience good turn-outs to the Sport Otago Stride, Ride and Slide days. These events are not only a chance for DCCA families and staff to get to know each other better; they also serve as great opportunities to showcase the DCCA to others. The feedback we receive from newcomers, particularly at the “Move It! Move It!” fun day is always very positive. Over the past year, we have continued with our planned physical improvements to our services as well as refreshing our signage and branding. Following the Christchurch earthquakes, we have had all buildings checked for their susceptibility to damage and have carried out minor alterations where necessary. We have planned a significant upgrade to the Russell St centre that will be carried out in the forthcoming year.

Jo Ellis has been an inspiring Director both to DCCA staff and educators and in her connections with external bodies. Jo is a member of the National Council of Te Tari Puna o Aotearoa/New Zealand Childcare Association and is the local area President. She is also a member of the University of Otago’s ECE External Advisory Committee and provides governance and staff development advice to two other day care centres in the Dunedin area. She is active in the local business community and in the past two years has visited Qatar to provide professional development to ECE teachers there. She is a very valuable leader to the DCCA and we are grateful for her dedication to her role. Thus it is with a mix of sadness and gratitude that the Executive Committee agreed to give her a year’s sabbatical leave for the forthcoming year while she delivers more professional development to ECE services in Qatar. We look forward to welcoming Jo back in August next year refreshed from some travel and relaxation with her family and with new ideas and plans to share with us as a result of her work in Qatar. We are very relieved that the Director’s position will be capably filled by Jan Johnson while Jo is on leave. Jan is a visiting teacher in home-based care and has many years experience of teaching and administration in ECE. The Executive Committee looks forward to working closely with Jan in the coming year. After a busy preceding year revising and streamlining the DCCA’s strategic plan, this year the Executive Committee has been able to spend more time thinking about the longer term future of the Association and the likely risks and opportunities that we will be presented with. The Executive Committee is thriving with a group of talented and committed parents. We recently welcomed two new members this year, Joel Oldridge and Ronnie Proctor, who bring some very helpful viewpoints and are already actively participating in our decision-making. Unfortunately, we farewell two members, Alix Lucas-Fyfe and Lisa Ransom, at the AGM who are both facing other significant demands and understandably need to withdraw from the Committee. Alix has been on the Committee for 3 years and has acted as Secretary of the Committee for much of that time, as well as bringing particular insight from her background in marketing. Lisa has been on the Committee for the past year and regularly provided the Committee with supper to get us through the meetings, in addition to helpful contributions to our discussions! Thank you both Alix and Lisa for your willing involvement and we wish you well. On a personal note, I now have four children who are, or have been, cared for and educated by some amazing DCCA teachers from an early age. They are all the better for the love and learning that they have experienced within the DCCA and I am glad that so many other Dunedin families also benefit from the DCCA in the same way that my family does. To all those who contribute to the success that the DCCA is, thank you.

Jessica Palmer President

Treasurer’s Report 2013

“Successful Organisation”… what does that mean?

To some they may envisage flashy glass covered buildings with fancy offices where management and staff

drive expensive vehicles and high five each other in the hall to celebrate their awesomeness.. well perhaps

that is just the Hollywood take on the meaning.

To me “Successful Organisation” means an organisation where it’s successful performance comes directly

from its people. I believe this rings true for the DCCA.

It starts with the Board, DCCA parents whose vision and guidance set clear direction and expectations.

Those are then taken by Jo and the team at head office who put it all into action, while all the time watching

income and expenditure with hawk like eyes. The staff at each centre who work tirelessly to ensure they

control costs and staffing all without sacrificing quality education to our children. The visiting teachers and

educators who have worked hard to ensure our home based scheme stays viable and be market leaders,

which in turn has attracted new families and educators. Last but not least the families who choose to use

our services and without we would not have a reason to exist.

We were pleasantly surprised this year when the government announced an increase, albeit small, to early

childhood education funding. This meant we have been able to minimise any fee increases to meet the

continual increasing cost of operating the organisation.

The nursery continues to prove to be a strong asset to the organisation and a great staging area for feeding

Russell Street and Elm Row which continue to be strong performers. Koputai had a great year from a deficit

the previous period to a healthy surplus. Ako showed improvement over the previous year and thanks to

the commitment of the staff and families that trend looks likely to continue. Home-based started the year

slowly but finished strong.

Financially the DCCA continues to be in a very strong position. This year’s surplus of $163k continues to

build and strengthen our foundations and to ensure our existence into the foreseeable future.

To wrap things up I take pleasure on behalf of myself (as a parent) and the board in being able to thank all of

the staff and families for their commitment making DCCA a leader in early childhood education.

On a final note I personally would like to acknowledge Raeleene for her efforts and commitment to the DCCA

financials.

Mike Holley Treasurer

Director’s report 2013

Kia Ora Koutou nga mihi nui kia koutou

Our association continues to work hard to meet the four strategic goals which drive our direction and

focus. Through these goals we have built a positive organizational culture that is transparent and

signaled by the Committee. We are able to purposely do our work with these goals at the forefront of

all that we do. Our teachers and educators have focused on numeracy and increasing their own

subject knowledge to ensure there is intentionality in their teaching. We held our first educator and

teacher workshop where together our staff worked towards a shared understanding about our

direction for children’s learning. This was a significant shift in our organisational culture.

The Executive Committee are keen to develop a greater understanding of our (existing and potential)

“clients” and their needs and desires. Our annual parent survey presented very positive results and

we acted upon any recommendations. I also carried out a small random survey (35 parents) from

centre and home-based parents via letter, phone call and face to face meeting. All parents chose to

respond via questionnaire feedback and highlighted some positives but also some areas for

improvement. We value this transparency with our parents where they feel that their voices are

heard.

We have focused on improving my business management skills, acknowledging that the DCCA is a

large enterprise. I meet regularly with a business mentor and continue to attend business seminars

and network with the wider business community. We were delighted to be nominated as finalists for

the Otago Business Awards in the not for profit section. It was real honour to be one of the 3

finalists, evidence of how strongly our business is performing in a difficult climate.

We welcomed 5 new members onto our Executive Committee in 2012, the Executive roles were

restructured, where the educator and Staff representatives do not attend all Executive Committee

meetings. The result being that we have more robust discussions at Executive Committee meetings

around our opportunities and threats. The Educator, Staff rep and I meet regularly to check in and

ensure clear lines of communication.

We have undertaken a comprehensive brand management and marketing review utilising the

expertise of ADART. We have new material printed for distribution at events and places of contact

for potential clients. We have worked hard at understanding our brand and know that word of mouth

is our most powerful tool to brand ourselves. We have captured opportunities such as our annual

Move it Day to showcase our work. We have celebrated educator’s service to the association; our

children and teachers performed at the Otago Pasifka Festival and of course had a huge turnout for

the annual train trip. DCCA were represented at the Sport Otago annual Stride, Ride and Slide event,

this was another opportunity to increase our visibility.

We have continued to form good relationships with local media and have had home-based

playgroups coverage in The Star and D Scene. We ensured there was centre coverage in The Star

around specific events particularly celebrating the success of Russell Street and Nursery winning the

southern region Healthy Heart Award. Penel has also strengthened our Facebook usage.

Our focus on excellence in teaching and learning has created some visionary discussion about our

direction and our ability to be more autonomous. As result we have restructured Penel’s role into

Curriculum Leader, where her skills and knowledge are better utilised. We have invested creatively

in people’s professional learning opportunities within our budget constraints.

In October 2012 we relicensed all centres to meet the Early Childhood Education 2008 regulations;

our head teachers were professional and responsive to this comprehensive process.

DCCA have linked with University of Otago to undertake research on transition to school. We are

really keen to work alongside Dr Lizzy Schaunacy and Dr Elaine Reese, two highly noted

researchers. We look forward to the next phases as this is not only an excellent opportunity to

support parent but another marketing opportunity for the DCCA.

A new strategy for the DCCA was to keep all centres open over the Christmas period. This proved to

be supportive for parents who needed care but also impacted positively on our January funding. Our

staff were most accommodating in meeting this change.

One of my biggest roles has been the reshuffling, the negotiating, the budgeting of staffing which has

opportunities but also manifests in many challenges. Our teachers have been outstanding in their

responses to the changed required. Our reliever savings have been significant. We have had some

growth and shifts in staffing in centres and our home-based team. With every appointment we have

been successful in creating opportunities for our teachers as we know the importance of positive staff

well-being. We have also successfully decreased staffing cost over this period.

We have experienced some positive growth in home-based, however face the decline of participation

at our AKO centre due to the local school closing. We are responsive to change and keep a close

watch on our changing landscape.

My role requires an enormous amount of energy, positivity, enthusiasm and direction to ensure

discretionary commitment. We have tackled problems and situations that could not be predicted or

planned for but kept a clear focus on the values and goals of the organisation and how we sustain the

DCCA as market leaders in early childhood education.

I believe in service to the community and contribute locally where ever possible. Nationally I have

established a place and voice for DCCA through representation on the TeTari Puna Ora Aotearoa

Council; although it has been a reasonably quiet year politically I am in regular contact with local

and national media for our opinions.

Our work will continue to be about relationships with staff and educators and to ensure

accountability, responsibility and ownership in our teams. I believe we are all are very clear about

the direction we are taking.

The financial status of the organisation is foremost in all my thinking and planning, and I am keen to

think innovatively to work within our current budget but ensuring we don’t compromise quality. Our

administration team and head teachers have been committed to our financial success and are aware

of our budget restrictions. We will post a positive net profit, due to sound management and

accounting. I’m pretty happy about this achievement and really appreciate the team effort.

I have particularly enjoyed working with the Executive Committee, we have really shifted to having

clear strategic direction and governance, appreciating and recognizing the past but acknowledging

the importance of looking forward. We will continue to face many political challenges with an

election year ahead of us so strong governance is paramount.

I am grateful the Executive Committee who has given me a year’s sabbatical to experience teaching

in a school in Qatar. I leave knowing that the DCCA has visionary governance, teachers, educators

and administration teams who have clear expectations and understanding of how their

professionalism is paramount to our success.

Thank you to our families, Executive Committee, educators, teachers and administrators, you have

all played a part in our success. We are well positioned and more strategic and forward thinking to

meet new issues as a whole association. I look forward to planning a big forty years celebration of

the DCCA in two years’ time, where we acknowledge and recognise a strong vibrant organisation

committed to the education of children.

Naku noa na

Jo Ellis

Director

Staff Representative’s Report July 2012-June 2013 Tēna kotou Tēna kotou Tēna kotou katoa This year has brought about changes for the position of Staff Representative. Instead of attending the monthly meeting it was decided that the staff representative would instead meet with the Director regularly and be “caught up” on applicable matters and given guidance regarding any feedback to staff. Of course, like any staff member they would still be welcome to attend a meeting by prior arrangement. On reflection I have missed attending the monthly meetings; I learnt a lot about the “bigger picture” of DCCA and enjoyed the partnership between Executive committee and management first hand. I would suggest going forward that a regular meeting time and place is formalized between the Staff Representative and Director, as in our busy work worlds it is easy to let these meetings slide. This has been a positive experience for me and I would like to thank staff who put their faith in me to represent them as their Staff Representative. E noho rā Heather Fagan

Educator Representative’s report July 2012 – June 2013 It gives me great pleasure to present my rather short report to the Annual General Meeting. Changes were made since the last AGM which meant that both staff representative and educator representative no longer attend the meetings of the Executive Committee. Instead both Heather and I met with Jo Ellis and were brought up to date with recent executive matters and also bringing any concerns or queries which we or staff/educators might have raised. This proved to be a very effective way of communicating matters, although perhaps on a more regular basis would have improved things more. I am standing down from my role as Educator Representative at this meeting and I would like to say that I have very much enjoyed my time in this role and I wish the new Educator Representative all the very best in her new role and would like to offer my full support and help. Caroline Officer Home-based Educator Representative