Mr. Raymond Sullivan and Ms. Nancye Sullivan of the IB from Australia visit NMS

Mr. Raymond Sullivan and Ms. Nancye Sullivan of the International Baccalaureate Organization from Australia visited the school to assess the school’s readiness to implement the IB Primary Years Programme.Both of them have immense experience in accreditation of International schools. They were quite impressed by the school’s present delivery of its curriculum. They had a long drawn discussion on the how the school would get into the IB PYP curriculum with a host of NMS teachers. They discussed- How parents should be educated about the transition to the new IB PYP curriculum? , How the PYP Programme of Inquiry can be put into practice? , How mathematics and Language can be dealt in this curriculum? How Students’ portfolios can be maintained to keep a record of a child’s progress? How to shift from content based system to a more “concept driven pattern of learning”?

Excerpts of conversation with Ms.Nancye Sullivan:
Q: How long have you both been in the international school system?
R: Ray has fifteen years experience in the international school system. He has taught in Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. As Deputy Head and Elementary Principal at the International School, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 1993 - 1996 and at Yokohama International School, Japan from 1997 to 2006. Ray has a wealth of experience in administration in the International Schools system. His nine years as Elementary Principal and Deputy Head at Yokohama International School in a CIS/NEASC Accredited and IBO DP and PYP School. Ray has a strong background in, and knowledge of, the accreditation process and of the IBO Curriculum at all levels. Ray has had extensive experience with international recruiting as well.
Prior to his international teaching experience Ray taught in the Victorian State Education system. He was also part of the State Computer Education Team for five years.
I’ve taught in international schools in Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan for fifteen years. I specialize in Language Acquisition in the early years. I have been a PYP Trainer and Workshop leader for the IBO since 2000 and now specialize in Reading, Writing and Inquiry. I have facilitated IBO PYP workshops in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Prior to international experience I have taught in the Victorian State Education system.

Q: What is the most appealing factor about NMS?
R: Besides its sprawling ambience and impressive infrastructure the mere fact that in just 6 years time the school has taken such ambitious national and international standing, is praiseworthy.
I appreciate the way the school is open to new ideas and is ready to take risks in accommodating experiences in teaching and learning from all corners of the world. This is a wonderful way of promoting ‘international mindedness’ among the students.

Q: How far do you think the school can successfully accommodate the IB curriculum?
R: I’m quite impressed the way the school is conducting its curriculum presently. The school’s philosophy and the teachers’ commitment and willingness to inquire relates very closely to the IB mission. I hope it is going to be a smooth transition for the school to adapt the IB curriculum. It is the first time in our Preliminary visit that the teachers seemed so concerned about implementing the I B curriculum and the questions they asked were very interesting. I have full confidence that they will certainly do a good job to implement the new system.

Q.How do you think the IB PYP curriculum is going to be different for our children?
R: The ‘concept driven IB PYP ‘ curriculum emphasizes on inculcating positive character traits like enquiry, knowledgeable, open mindedness, caring etc mentioned in the IB Learner Profile. It would let children think and find their own path of learning. In IB we emphasis on providing ample experiential opportunities which we call ‘Front Loading’ when we introduce a concept, so each child will be able to choose some way knowing and understanding the concept. Let the child discover for himself .We’ve had wonderful feedback from parents all over the world d as to how their child seems to have better understanding and is more principled then before.
A child trained in IB PYP curriculum can easily switch on to any national or international curricula .I’m saying this by experience.

Q: Mr. Raymond would you suggest some strategies that we can incorporate to assess a child’s understanding?
R: I would suggest a ‘Student Led Conference’ for Parents rather than a Parent Teacher Meet. A child can better explain to his parents what he/she has learnt, what the difficulties in learning were, what he had actually tried to learn or what he now wants to learn. I began this experiment as the Principal of Yokohama International School, Japan. Eventually no parent wanted to meet the teacher to know of his child’s progress. On the contrary, they were awed by the way their children explained to them what they were learning in the school.

Q: What do you feel about ‘Nischay’?
R: ‘Nischay’ on the whole is too inspiring. Moreover, giving vocational training along with formal education is a great idea to help them in the true sense. The girls seem to be so talented and excited.