Gāfoa le Ata - Samoan Bilingual Unit

understanding of the Samoan culture. INTRODUCTION:
If we visualise the establishment of our Samoan unit within Kowhai Intermediate as a Fale Samoa (Samoan house), the vision and guiding principles of our unit form the fa’avae (foundation) and pou (posts) of our philosophy. The philosophy functions as the taualuga (roof) of our fale, sheltering our aspirations, and in-turn informing our programme and goals for the future. Vision:

- To raise the achievement levels of students through the use of Samoan language and culture. Guiding Principles:
- Language: To ensure the use of Samoan language is acknowledged, prioritised and integrated across all areas of the school curriculum, with the aim of raising students’ achievement, and preparing them for continuing success at high school and beyond.
- Identity: To create well-rounded, confident students knowledgeable in their Samoan identity.
- Support: To encourage strong family support for the unit and Kowhai Intermediate so that student achievements are supported and celebrated. Philosophy:
The philosophy is expressed in the day-to-day running of the unit’s programme. Each guiding principle has a number of key concepts which feed into the structure of the programme and the goals for the unit. To ensure the Samoan and English Bilingual language methodologies are used to increase literacy and achievement.
2. To ensure the teachers knowledge of Bilingual language methodologies remains current and is supported through professional development and/or mentoring opportunities.
3. To provide bilingual literacy programmes that best meet the learning needs of each student in the class.
4. Ensure the unit employs a teacher fluent and knowledgeable in both the Samoan and English languages, and Samoan culture, to teach the class.
5. The importance of Oral language is recognised and modelled by the teacher and students frequently.
6. Children must be assessed in both Samoan and English literacy. To gain understanding and use of Fa’a Samoa and Samoan Culture relevant to the New Zealand and Samoan environments and the role modelling of these behaviours.
2. To use class routines, language and context that supports Fa’a Samoa so students are learning within a familiar and supportive setting.
3. To promote the key Samoan values of Respect, Love and Service and ensuring they are integrated into the learning and expectations for students.
4. To incorporate Samoan Song, Dance, Sport, other social activities and behaviours into the students curriculum. Support:
1. To encourage parents and families involvement in their child’s learning and support of the unit through engaging parent help, providing regular communications, and holding meetings and social activities.
2. To engage with experts from the wider Samoan community and in other specialist areas to support students learning. Programme:
The school operates a Samoan fulltime bilingual class catering for Samoan students where the students’ Samoan heritage is acknowledged and brought into the learning. At the same time the class is integrated into all other educational programmes within the school, such as Talent Development, Music, Technology, and Swimming. Gāfoa le Ata has adopted a dual language bilingual approach which aims to teach 50% of the time in Samoan and 50% of the time in English. This means the students read and write in both English and Samoan (biliteracy) and content knowledge is taught using two languages. Each students language and literacy abilities are assessed to ensure their individual learning needs are catered for.