Our Bilingual Journey

History

In 2011 our school opened the first bilingual classroom in the Buller. We grew to two classrooms in 2012. In 2015 our kaiako moved on and we were unable to attract any interest from the teaching community. One of our permanent staff members moved to Christchurch for a year to complete Hoaka Pounamu -A post grade diploma in Bi-lingual Teaching. We reopened the classroom as a Bi-cultural class offering instruction in English and 30%-50% of the programme in Te Reo Maori in 2018. The kaupapa of this class is to allow the tamariki to walk in both Te Ao Maori and Pakeha NZ Society.

Te Ao Māori. The vision that underpins Eke Panuku, "implies a society that recognises Māori as tangata whenua, assumes a shared obligation for protecting Māori language and culture, and ensures that Māori are able to enjoy educational success as Māori."

Kaua e rangiruatia te hāpai o te hoe; e kore tō tātou waka e ū ki uta.

Information Pamphlet