Being SunSmart

With summer here, it is time to think about being SunSmart and the ways that children can avoid the risks of contracting skin cancer. Below are some links that provide information on being SunSmart.

You will find the homepage for SunSmart on
www.sunsmart.org.nz
www.sunsmart.org.nz
It includes the UV index for your town: www.sunsmart.org.nz/uvi/text

Remember that sunscreen only increases burn time by the amount of SPF on the bottle, ie: SPF 15 sunscreen will increase the burn time of seven minutes to one and three quarter hours. Also remember to apply sunscreen 30 minutes before you go into the sun and reapply at least every two hours to ensure it remains affective.

www.sunsmart.org.nz/community/sunsmart-schools will give you information on the SunSmart schools programme.

Also useful is www.cancernz.org.nz/reducing-your-cancer-risk/sunsmart the Cancer Society’s SunSmart page. On the Cancer Society website www.cancernz.org.nz you will also find other information about cancer, reducing your risk, research and sun care products.
 

Historic Places information

With Christchurch holding its Heritage Week this week and the talk of historic buildings it has lost during the quake, this week’s useful links will help you get more information about the historic places around the country.

www.historic.org.nz is the website for the Historic places trust, a good place to start for information.

www.historic.org.nz/en/TheRegister.aspx is the register of historic places. On this page you can also nominate sites for consideration as historic places as well as looking up existing ones.

www.arc.govt.nz/heritage/historic-places-in-regional-parks/historic-places_home.cfm  
gives good information for those of you in Auckland of the historic sites. It includes a section on sites that are good to take your school groups to and stay at.

www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/new-zealand-historic-places-trust/1 is the page of the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand’s explanation of the Historic Places Trust.

If you want more information about the historic places in your city or district, your local council will also be able to help you further.

Canterbury Earthquake information and help

Government Helpline 0800 779 997 
This provides information on income support, housing, health issues, community assistance, clean-up and how to contact any other services people may need. A website has been set up to centrally co-ordinate earthquake related up-to-date information. http://www.canterburyearthquake.govt.nz/ 

Christchurch City Council information helpline: 03 941 8999 
For assessment of major structural damage to your home or business premises or for help with essential council services such as water supply or sewage disposal. For Christchurch City Council up-to-date information: 
http://ccc.govt.nz/thecouncil/newsmedia/mediareleases/earthquake.aspx  

CBD Cordon
The CBD cordon remains in place this morning. Police, engineers and Civil Defence staff are assessing the area. The Cordon will be lifted progressively and updates will be available during the day, refer to: http://ccc.govt.nz/thecouncil/newsmedia/mediareleases/earthquake.aspx . 

Welfare and Psychosocial support 
Welfare Centres have been set up at Addington Raceway, Kaiapoi Rugby Football Club, and Rolleston Community Centre providing a range of services including Work & Income, Housing New Zealand, medical and social work support and food & water assistance, as well as accommodation where needed. 
MSD is working with community agencies on the ground. 
\Relationship Services are operating out of Central Christchurch, Rangiora and Hornby call - 0800 779 997 

Red Cross, Victim Support, Salvation Army are operating out of welfare centres 

Victim Support has access to local qualified and experienced counsellors to talk to people affected by an emergency. They can be contacted on 0800 842 846 or via your local representative at your nearest Police station.

Financial Support 
Work and Income is running a hotline 24 hours a day please phone 0800 559-009. Work & Income administer the CIVIL DEFENCE PAYMENT. You may be eligible for assistance if you have been required to leave your home because of the civil defence emergency - please contact for advice 0800 559 009. 

Work and Income Sites Open: 
Linwood Community Link 
Hornby Service Centre 
New Brighton - 
Shirley 
Kaiapoi Service Centre 
Riccarton 

Sites not open: 
Central Service Centre, including Christchurch Youth Centre
Papanui Service Centre, CYF Site and CYF Southern Regional 
Rangiora Service Centre 
Child, Youth and Family Torrens House, 
Sydenham Service Centre and CYF site 

The Earthquake Support Subsidy: 
A payment is available for employers with fewer than 20 staff to assist them to pay their employees if they are unable to open for business or have reduced capacity following the earthquake. The payment will be made directly to the employer who will then pay the employee.
The wage subsidy will be paid: 
for up to 4 weeks (any additional funding will be subject to reapplication) at the gross rate of $350 (inclusive of GST), per week per employee or pro-rata for part-time staff. Or as a lump sum advance payment. 

It will be available from Thursday 9 September 2010. Payments can be made retrospectively from Saturday 4 September 2010.

Please phone Government Helpline for information - 0800 779 997 or visit http://www.workandincome.govt.nz/about-work-and-income/news/canterbury-earthquake/employer-subsidy.html 

Mayoral Fund 
The Canterbury Earthquake Appeal is the single appeal fund receiving donations to support those affected by Saturday's earthquake in Canterbury. New Zealand Red Cross has experience in running large scale appeals, and is now coordinating the single appeal fund - the Canterbury Earthquake Appeal with the backing of all the Canterbury Mayors.

Earthquake Commission (EQC): 0800 DAMAGE (0800 326 243) For information on EQC's insurance cover, cleaning up and making a claim. 

Health 
Healthline 24 Hours: 0800 611 116 

Businesses 
A website has been set up to provide information and support to help businesses and staff recover from this event. Please visit: http://www.recovercanterbury.co.nz/ 

Employers & Employees - advice about work and pay 
The terms of the employment agreement will be relevant - as a general rule if an employee is willing and available to work, they are entitled to be paid. Working out the best solution for the business and the employee should be agreed between employers and employees - i.e. there should not be a unilateral decision. Please phone the Department of Labour on 0800 20 90 20 or visit the website: www.dol.govt.nz/quake2010  

If you require Union assistance during this time, please contact Marty Braithwaite, Unions Canterbury and CTU Earthquake Response Coordinator on 029 774 6776.

Schools and Early Childhood Centres 
Check with your own school's website or contact the Ministry of Education for latest updates on when schools will open - 0800 225 580.

Buses 
Metro Info Line 366 88 55, Environment Canterbury 3539007 or 0800 324 636 
Buses are operating however the Bus Exchange remains closed. MetroInfo staff will be on Colombo Street platforms, which are the pick-up and drop-off points between Tuam Street and Cashel Mall. The MetroInfo service desk is closed. Please phone MetroInfo 366 8855.
The tram is fully operational. 

Home Security 
Police are advising that if you have to vacate your property, make it as secure as possible before you leave and let your neighbours know that you will be away from you property.

General Advice 
* Remain calm and keep in touch with neighbours & friends. 
* Keep an eye on vacated neighbours' properties.

Urban Legends

With yet another release from the police warning of a hoax email or ‘urban legend’ doing the rounds, it seems a good idea to feature websites where you can check up on hoax emails in the current useful links.

Of course the NZ Police website www.police.govt.nz has some information on hoax emails.

Snopes is one of my favourites for checking out if an email is true or false. Very quickly you can see if the email content is true, false or has elements of both in it.
View: www.snopes.com to see for yourself.

Scambusters is an Urban Legend and Hoax resource centre where you can search for scams, sign up for alerts and much more. Visit: www.scambusters.org/legends.html

As you might expect About.com also has an urban legend section where you can check out email hoaxes. Visit: http://urbanlegends.about.com for more

To find out how you can quickly combat urban legends,
visit: http://netsquirrel.com/combatkit

If you wonder how Urban Legends work, you can always visit:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/urban-legend.htm 

On the lighter side, American Folklore has some very entertaining urban legends.
Visit: http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/urban-legends  to see for yourself.
 
The Darwin Awards Urban Legends also has some entertaining urban myths you will be pleased are not really true. Visit www.darwinawards.com/legends for an entertaining read and a good laugh without clogging up email inboxes.

Local Body Elections 2010

With the lack of awareness on the upcoming local body elections, this week’s useful links are ones that can help you become more informed on the issue.

Your first point of call should be: http://www.elections.org.nz/elections/local-elections/2010-local-elections.html This gives you important dates and information including how to enrol.

Local Government New Zealand’s website can help you find your local council by visiting: http://www.localgovt.co.nz/site/Local_Government/find_a_council/default.aspx

They also have information on local government for schools which can be viewed at: http://www.localgovt.co.nz/site/Local_Government/infoforschools.aspx

On the Internal Affairs website you can also find useful information on the upcoming elections including the voting systems used and what positions you will be voting for. Visit: http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Local-Elections-Index?OpenDocument for more

Easy recipes for children

This weeks links are easy recipes for children to learn to cook with.

www.childrensrecipes.com offers easy and tasty recipes for children to try. The home page features recipes of the week, while another recipes page gives a lot more recipes.

www.weekiwis.com/recipes.html is a website designed for children and tells them to always have an adult present to help with sharp knives etc. The recipes are kid friendly and designed for little boys and girls with easy step by step instructions..

Home heating

Consumer magazine provides some good advice on choosing a heater and cutting costs on: www.consumer.org.nz/category/heating-energy/home-heating

The EECA Energywise website gives some good advice on making your house more energy efficient. Some of their recommendations will also help to keep your house warmer this winter. Visit: www.energywise.govt.nz/how-to-be-energy-efficient/your-house

The Smarter homes website also gives an informative breakdown of the good points, bad points and requirements for all different sources of home heating. Visit:
www.smarterhomes.org.nz/energy/heating/heating-options/ for this information .

Ecopower also provides some information on green heating on:
www.ecopowerltd.co.nz/environmentally-friendly-green.html

Cleaning

For an article on how to make cleaning products from things already in your cupboard visit: http://green.thefuntimesguide.com/2008/08/green_cleaning_diy.php

and green cleaning tips can be found on: http://green.thefuntimesguide.com/2008/04/green_cleaning_guide.php 

For more information on cleaning while being mindful of the environment, visit: www.green.thefuntimesguide.com and search the site using the keyword ‘cleaning’.

On: www.simplesavings.co.nz/downloads you can find a low-cost cleaning tip sheet plus many more useful ways to save money.

Holiday driving tips

With Easter and the end of term holidays starting at the end of this week, our useful links this week focus on keeping you safe while driving to and from any holiday destination you may be going to.

The AA provides some good safety tips for holiday travelling. You can view these tips at: www.aa.co.nz/motoring/tips/practical-motoring-tips/Pages/Safety-tips-for-holiday-travelling.aspx

Neighbourhood Support is another good source of information, providing a comprehensive list of tips on:
www.ns.org.nz/30.html there is also a fact sheet in PDF format at the bottom of the webpage.

The EECA provide tips that are concerned with conserving fuel and the car’s environmental impact. It also saves money which is very useful. Visit:
www.competition.energywise.govt.nz/energyspot/episode-10/holiday-driving for more.

As you can expect, the NZ Transport Agency also provides very good information on their website:
www.nzta.govt.nz/traffic/info/around-nz/holidays.html

The following link is from a different country’s government website, but the advice they give in the PDF is just as relevant here. Visit: www.iowadot.gov/tips.pdf 

Car security
 

Useful sites where you can go to learn how to make your car and contents safer.

These two videos come from the NSW police and while they are made for the Australian market, they are just as relevant in New Zealand.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m2ULiIiuAU  deals with car theft, while
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAzhtTO4U1E&feature=channel is a video about preventing theft from your vehicle.

Some of you will be familiar with popular British motoring show Fifth Gear, this video shows their tips on stopping car theft. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yAmaSfBO1M&feature=related Some of the crimes they mention are not popular here in New Zealand yet and some of the anti theft devices may also be hard to find.

The New Zealand Police also has a good web page on protecting your vehicle from criminals which can be found on: www.police.govt.nz/safety/car.protecting.html

Home security tips

Of course the New Zealand Police website is a very good place to start when thinking about securing your home and they offer a few web pages covering the subject.

www.police.govt.nz/safety/home.burglar.reducing.html offers tips on how to reduce a burglar’s opportunities. Since most burglaries are opportunistic, the less opportunities a burglar has the better.

www.police.govt.nz/safety/home.burglar.who.html explains who burgles houses and why. It can help you think like a burglar when looking at the security of your house. In particular it tells you what burglars like and don’t like. Don’t make your house ‘Burglar Friendly’.

www.police.govt.nz/sites/default/files/documents/burglary-flyer-final.pdf is a useful flier by the police covering commercial premises, homes and even what to do when you go on holiday.

Finally from the New Zealand Police,
www.police.govt.nz/safety/home.burglar.alarms.html explains everything you need to know about burglar alarms if you are thinking of getting one.


The NSW Police offers an informative video on how to keep your house secure from burglars. While it is made for the Australian market and gives Australian facts and figures, the advice can be just as useful to New Zealanders.

Visit: www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheNSWPolice#p/u/3/vxbAnZQIrL0 to view.
Remember that the number for emergencies in NZ is 111


How stuff also offers an interesting webpage on home security with some good advice.
To view their advice, visit:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/home-security-tips.htm 


While it is a company that provides alarms, ADT also gives some useful home security tips on:
www.adtsecurity.co.nz/home_security/home_safety_centre/securing_your_home 


On a 50+ website called GrownUps there is an article on home security products which can be useful for all home users. It can be found on:
www.grownups.co.nz/read/money/property/home-security-tips 

Walking to school

Feet First
Feet First 2010 encourages primary school students to walk to school with a caregiver, friend, or organised walking group at least once a week, every week, during term time. It also provides curriculum content related to safety, exploration, creativity and saving the planet. There are also chances for schools to win vouchers.
Visit: www.feetfirst.govt.nz

Walking School Bus
Walking School Bus is an American site but has useful information on starting and developing a walking school bus for your school.
Visit: www.walkingschoolbus.org

Walk To School Every Week.
The New Zealand Transport Agency has developed a useful information pamphlet for parents on the Feet First campaign and getting kids to walk to school. T can be found at:
www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/feet-first-parents-guide/docs/Feet-First-Parents-Guide-English.pdf 

Walk To School: The Benefits
The NZ Transport Agency also has on its website the benefits of kids walking to school. These benefits are not just for the children either. It can be found on:
www.transfund.govt.nz/travel/school/walk-to-school/benefits.html

Travelwise Walking School Bus
This is an Auckland Regional Council website that informs you all about walking school buses including giving helpful guidelines, providing artwork for newsletters, sample letters and documents, promotional items and even tips. It really is a one stop shop if your school is thinking of starting a walking school bus. Please note though if you are outside the Auckland region, you will have to change the council contact numbers or delete them.

Buying a motor vehicle

If you are thinking of buying a new motor vehicle, below are some useful links to help you make an informed decision on which one is right for you.

A useful place to start is Consumer’s guide, helpfully entitled ‘everything you need to know about buying new and used cars’. You can view this information by visiting:
www.consumer.org.nz/reports/car-buying-guide 

Some of the information is only available to members though, like their picks of most reliable cars.

For the legal information on buying and selling motor vehicles you can visit:
www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/consumerinfo/motorvehicles/index.html 

Also to find out if there is any money owing on your prospective vehicle you can go to
www.ppsr.govt.nz/cms  There is a small ($1) fee per search.

As you might expect, The Automobile Association also provided some useful information and help when buying a car including inspections and reports, for a fee. Visit
www.aa.co.nz/motoring/buyingselling/inspections/Pages/default.aspx for more or you can go to www.aalemoncheck.co.nz/  and check whether it is a lemon.

To check on the safety ratings of vehicles, you can also visit:
www.transfund.govt.nz/vehicles/used-cars/index.html

While to find out how much your car will cost you in fuel each year, you can visit the fuel calculator on:
www.fuelsaver.govt.nz/ 

Budgeting for young children

The Sorted website of the Retirement Commissioner has a section aimed at kids, with advice also for parents and teachers. There is a fun adventure that children can accompany the sorted mouse on and at the same time learn about money. There are games and activities about money that give children the chance to earn certificates or gain high scores.
www.sorted.org.nz/life-stages/kids-and-money

For money saving tips, and more information about kids and money, your class can visit:
www.kidspot.co.nz/section+129+Family-Budget.htm and follow the links on the page.

Also an Australian site offers very good advice on saving money for those who are a bit older, just by clicking on www.savingsguide.com.au/saving-money/ 

Avoiding scams
 

www.police.govt.nz/safety/home-identity-crime.html 
This is from the New Zealand Police website and gives you some very good advise on how to protect yourself from identity crime.

www.ns.org.nz 
This one is the Neighbourhood Support website and contains lots of useful information. To find out what they say about scams, click on Fact Sheets in the left-hand menu. You will also find all sorts of other useful fact sheets including holiday security and driving tips.

www.ahtcc.gov.au 
This is an Australian website. It is for the Australian High Tech Crime Centre. It explains about all the different types of fraud and gives some very good advice. They also run a programme for schools called Think You Know, which aims to stop children being groomed by sexual predators online. I don’t know whether you can get resources online here in NZ, but on the resources page there is a very good ad showing viewers that you never know who you are really chatting to online. There is also some really good advise on Cyber Bullying that you can access from the same place.

www.consumeraffairs.govt.nz/scamwatch
This is our Government’s Scamwatch page and gives all sorts of useful information including the latest scams doing the rounds. If you think something might be a scam, you can always check it out here or by contacting the police.

Websites that teach kids how to cook

www.edibleplaygrounds.co.uk
This is a fun website from the UK that not only provides children with a range of recipes for cooking fruit and veges but also has some fun sew and grow projects they can try.

www.childrensrecipes.com
This site gives a range of recipes that children can attempt, possibly under adult supervision. The recipes would appear to have been sent in by different sources meaning that they do not follow the same style or structure and some might be better than others..

www.weekiwis.com/recipes.html
You might see this website and think, perfect recipes for wee kiwi kids. It may therefore surprise you when you look closely and see that the website is actually hosted in Alaska, not NZ, but it still does have some great, fun recipes for kids even if some of the brand names of the ingredients don’t exist here. Also note that kiwis in this website refer to what we call kiwifruit or zespri, not the birds.

Cyber Bullying

An online PDF article from New Scientist Tech can be found at
www.virtualeducation.net.nz/docs/NewScientist_CyberBullying_mg19526136.pdf
and gives a useful background into the phenomenon, explaining what it is and why it is so bad.

A new website that some of you may recognise from a previous news story is Hectors World. It is an interactive website designed for children and teaches them what they can do when they are being cyber bullied. It also teaches them about other things on the internet they need to watch out for. It is a great way to learn as it is fun and uses believable storylines with fun characters.
Hectors World can be found at: www.hectorsworld.com/island/index.html#HOMEPAGE 


Readers Digest has a really great online article about the rise of cyber bullying online at:
www.readersdigest.co.nz/content/the-rise-of-cyberbullying/?commentPageIndex=0&orderCommentsBy=0

It is four pages long with each page tackling different aspects of cyber bullying. It contains real case studies and a page on the New Zealand situation. It is written for parents and there is even a poll at the end for those who have had children who have experienced cyber bullying. There are some very useful links on the third page.

Last but by no means least is Netsafe’s information on cyber bullying. It is divided into sections for young people, parents and teachers. It gives good advise, and is easy to quickly find the information about the particular part of cyber bullying you might want to know about, which in most cases for students would be what to do if they are being cyber bullied.

The information can be found at: www.cyberbullying.org.nz/youngpeople

Bullying

A good first port of call is the NZ Police website. It explains what bullying is in easy to understand terms, why it is harmful and wht can be done to stop bullying.
Visit: www.police.govt.nz/service/yes/nobully/bully_info.html

No Bully is a useful site that has information specifically for teachers, with guidelines for schools. It gives some international statistics on bullying and holds the message that it is everybody’s problem.
Visit: www.nobully.org.nz/guidelines.htm

Another useful website to visit is by Dr Ken Rigby, an Adjunct Research Professor and an educational consultant based in South Australia. He is a leading authority on the subject of bullying and peer victimisation. He gives some helpful suggestions on what schools can do in concise bulletpoints.
Visit: www.kenrigby.net

The website of the Children’s Commissioner www.occ.org.nz/advice/education#Bullying
will explain what the responsibilities of your school are, what forms bullying can take and how it makes a victim feel. There are also some useful links on the page for further reading.

Budgeting
 

The Sorted website of the Retirement Commissioner has a section aimed at kids, with advice also for parents and teachers. There is a fun adventure that children can accompany the sorted mouse on and at the same time learn about money. There are games and activities about money that give children the chance to earn certificates or gain high scores.
www.sorted.org.nz/life-stages/kids-and-money

For money saving tips, and more information about kids and money, your class can visit: www.kidspot.co.nz/section+129+Family-Budget.htm and follow the links on the page.

Also an Australian site offers very good advice on saving money for those who are a bit older, just by clicking on www.savingsguide.com.au/saving-money 

The Sorted site of the Retirement Commissioner has advice, worksheets and calculators to help you decide on goals and set a budget.
www.sorted.org.nz/home/sorted-sections/budgeting
www.sorted.org.nz/home/sorted-sections/set-your-goals

Who stole my money? is a useful site with budgeting information; you can subscribe for additional help. There are two types of membership, and one is free, but if you wnt additional features you will have to pay for them.
www.whostolemymoney.com/education/creating_a_budget

New Zealand Federation of Family Budgeting Services is a Wellington-based organisation aimed at helping develop budgeting skills
www.familybudgeting.org.nz or call 0508 BUDGET (0508 283 438).

About.com has an article on the envelope system for budgeting. It is a low tech old school system but is very effective, easy to do and doesn’t require money for computer programmes etc to get you started. www.moneyfor20s.about.com/od/budgeting/ht/envelopesystem.htm

There is an introduction to budgeting on the below New Zealand site. This website also has an easy to download and use Excel Spreadsheet budget, although be warned that no distinction is made as to whether it is weekly, monthly or yearly, so whatever time period you use, you will have to divide or multiply some of your expenses and/ or earnings to make them all be relevant for the same timeframe.
www.theshapeofmoney.co.nz/budgeting/introduction-to-budgeting/index.asp