History

AAPE evolved as part of the mission of the Porirua EFKS Church to provide Samoan literacy, sustain cultural and Christian values, and encourage moral and ethical principles to peoples lives, even from their early ages. The CCCS parish at Porirua, one of the first Samoan congregations in Wellington then, took up this mission challenge, and utilized the availability of their small church hall as a center for child-care and school for young children.

The Minister's wife, mothers, and grandmothers of the community became the first teachers, concentrating on their own below 5 year-old children as the focus group. Literacy, numeracy, recitation of biblical passages, and singing Samoan songs were the main areas of their curriculum. Naturally, as part of this age group interests, playing activities were also involved in the sessions. It was then called either, O le Aoga Amata, or, O le Aoga Faataitai. All expenses incurred to operate the programme of activities were met by the generosity of the parents, the community, and the general budget of the Church.

The introduction of the Aoga Amata (Early Childhood Education) component into the education system of New Zealand brought in pathways of regulations to improve infrastructure, guidelines to promote curriculum, policies to upgrade governance and management, and qualification standards to enhance quality service. AAPE took this journey, and learned a lot in the struggles, the challenges, and the experiences encountered. It became a licensed center in 1996, and approved as a chartered early childhood provider in 1998. Credit should go to all the children, parents, the Church (CCCS, Porirua), Government agencies and personnel, and everyone who in one way or another took part in the history of AAPE.

Governance Issues

The year 2005 ushered in a new Aoga Amata in Porirua in the form of AAPE. The entry also means a complete redefining of the Centres direction and purpose in terms of pedagogical practices, management and governance. Good governance approaches that consider strategic direction based on knowledge of local contexts that has provided a stable foundation since its early genesis in 1986 has been re- introduced.

Board members, the management team, and parent/caregiver representatives underwent Governance training and attended workshops aimed at sustaining the organization as a viable entity.

Sustainable development and continuous improvement of quality through out the organisation go hand-in-hand with the implementation of new administrative and support systems. In terms of strategic direction, AAPE has taken into consideration pragmatic local context before propositioning exogenous opportunities. In other words, AAPE is moving with the times in line with the Ministry of Educations synthesis of "what works" where the strategic ability agility to move seamlessly between different approaches is the most important capability and competency of the organization; now and in to the future.

In a diverse and multicultural society such as ours, AAPE is shaping its own WAY OF DOING THE RIGHT THINGS for the children's learning and development, in partnerships with key stakeholders, and with enough flexibility to do so according to its own unique philosophies and goals.

Management

The Management team is made up of the Licensee/Manager and the Supervisors. The team is defined as persons responsible in accordance with the Education Act 1989, and under the provisions of the Education (Early Childhood Centres) Regulations 1998, and therefore is responsible directly for the day-to-day running of AAPE Centre.

The AAPE ECE Centre management and pedagogy are the responsibilities of appropriately skilled staff members and registered qualified teachers/educators. The Licensee is also the manager and together with Supervisors forms the management team.

The management team and the teachers/educators share the responsibility for ensuring the development of the Centre in a way which maintains the Special Character of the AAPE organisation, ensuring that the educational expectations and aspirations of stakeholders is maintained as the underlying basis of all activity in the Centre and is further developed where necessary to reflect the needs of present day children of Aotearoa, New Zealand.

AAPEs management structure is one in which the various management tasks are shared by the group of teachers/educators working cooperatively and collaboratively within an environment culture that;

1. Understands that the Board of Trustees is responsible for all aspects of the Centres over-all management.
2. Clearly knows that legally the Board of Trustees, in its governance role, is responsible for overseeing the management of the Centre but delegates the Management task to the Manager/Licensee, who works within the structure of the Centre.
3. Every one is thoroughly aware that the day-to-day management is carried out by the management team and staff, as described in the AAPEs quality management statement.

Board of Trustees

The AAPE organization is governed by a Board of Trustees of nine (9) elected from the community of stakeholders that have a direct vested interest in the operations of the AAPE Centre and organisation. The Board of Trustees comprises of the following:(I) Three (3) parents representatives, (II) Three (3) Church representatives, (III) (3) Three teacher representatives; a total of nine.The Executive Committee comprises of (I) Chairperson, (II) Secretary, (III) Treasurer, (IV) Licensee/Manager, (V) The Supervisor (Staff representative).The Board of Trustees abides by all legislation relating to AAPEs Aoga Amata Centre and the whole organisation.