Today we hosted visitors from Singapore in Clontuskert; Mr Sherwin Cheng, Mr Alvin Lim, Miss Tan Ming Ming, Mr Muhammad Farizal and Dr Zoe Boon.
The group are Vice-Principals from Singapore who are currently participants of the Leadership in Education Programme (LEP) at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
The LEP is a full-time six-month programme that prepares Vice-Principals for school leadership. Participants on this programme are selected by the Singapore Ministry of Education. http://www.nie.edu.sg/leadership-professional-development/leadership programmes/leaders-in-education-programme.
The group are visiting Ireland as part of the programme and are led by Dr Zoe Boon, Senior Teaching Fellow, Faculty of Policy and Leadership Studies. They have already visited the Department of Education in Marlborough Street in Dublin and the NCCA; National Centre for Curriculum and Assessment.
On what motivated the group to visit Clontuskert School Mr. Muhammad Farizal said; “We were doing our research on schools in Ireland with strong innovation culture or teaching and learning practices and St. Augustine NS was one of the schools that the team felt that we should learn from. We are very impressed by the school’s high standards and therefore felt that the trip from busy Dublin to Galway would definitely be both useful and meaningful to understand more on the Irish education system.”
The group were given a tour of the school by senior students and visited each classroom where the students presented on the work they do in school and some of the many programs and innovations they participate in. Mary Callaghan prepared a traditional Irish lunch for our visitors with a homemade carrot cake thanks to Mary Kelly. Fr. Finneran, Chairperson of the Board of Management met the group and spoke to them of the work of the Board.
We wish our Singaporean visitors a successful trip to Ireland and look forward to connecting with them again in the future.