Green Valley hosts heads of Cognita

St Andrew's unique Innovation projects were demonstrated during the Cognita visit. When the Head teachers of all the Cognita Schools in Asia visited our school last week they were enthralled by the students and teachers involved in the Hovercraft project and everyone cheered as they witnessed the hovercraft take off around the field. They were also challenged in a team-building exercise to build the most effective rocket and tested out their new designs. The rocket 'Cog 1' aptly named by the team which was led by Andy Harrison launched at great speed and they soared into the lead and won the event! Andrew Hancock, Deputy Superintendent from the American School in Singapore commented "New technology means new opportunities and after meeting with Cognita Heads and visiting St Andrews Green Valley, I feel like we are preparing our students extremely well for this. Mr Frost and his team clearly offer design and solution-based classes and his students capably solved problems using technology. These skills will be called upon in the future and those students that participated in the hovercraft project will certainly be well-prepared!"

The Cognita Head teachers were struck by the beautiful, natural environment of our Early Years campus during their tour last week. Caroline Ratcliffe, Head of School at St Andrews Dusit enthused about our facilities: "I was absolutely blown away by your Early Years centre and the independent, investigative outdoor learning that you have taking place. The environment makes you feel like you are stepping into an adventure land; there are so many different activities to choose from, no wonder the children were all so engaged in their learning activities!"

Mark Lewis, Head of School in Ho Chi Minh City American Academy was equally impressed: "I came away from Green Valley feeling that this is the type of school I would like for my child. It felt more like a community than a school where everyone was given the leverage to play an important role."

These comments and many others we received during the visit made us extremely proud of our school, and we suspect that we will see many of the ideas already in place at Green Valley popping up in other Cognita schools around Asia soon!