As at the time of writing, the ethnic breakdown of the cultural diversity in our school includes this number of students:

7 x Indian students

11 x Fijian students

17 x African students

18 x Other (e.g French, Chilean, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese)

55 x Filipino

This means that those who speak another language, in addition to English at home, are nearing one sixth of the total student population.  Something to think about!

How we support our English Language Learners

All our students who are fortunate enough to be bi-lingual, or in some cases multi-lingual, are tested so we can gauge who may need additional support.  

Our ELL support team consists of:

Karen Inglis - Learning Support Team Lead

Shirley McLellan - data entry

Rebecca Cameron - baseline testing

Helen Koopu - Learning Assistant for Yr 11-13

Adrien Moen - Learning Assistant for Yr 9-10

Patsy Streeter - Learning Assistant for Yr 7-8

Donna Amora -  Bilingual Support Worker for the Filipino Students

Interesting facts

For our first contribution to the fortnightly newsletter we thought we would start by introducing everyone to one cultural group at a time, starting with our Filipino community.  See if you knew the following:

• People from the Philippines place a high value on politeness and harmony.

• People from the Philippines are referred to as Filipinos, and the main language is Tagalog.

• In addressing an older person, Filipinos use “Kuya” for older men and “Ate” for older women. It is considered impolite to call older persons just by their first names. 

• Young Filipinos do “pagmamano” - an honouring gesture performed as a sign of respect to elders and as a way of asking blessings from the elders. The person giving the greetings bows towards the hand of the elder and presses their forehead on the elder’s hand. It is typically done upon entry to the elder’s home or upon seeing them. 

• Old people are cared for in the family, rather than being put into homes.

• Until quite recently it was unacceptable for a boy and a girl to go out together without a chaperone

• Filipino people are more likely to use nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions and body language, to communicate.

• It is very unusual for temperatures to fall below 18 degrees in the Philippines, so Cromwell’s climate is a bit of a challenge!

Salamat (thank you in Tagalog) for reading our article!