Partner School relationship announced

At the beginning of the term break, I had the privilege of being the guest of Mr Le Thanh Bình in Vietnam’s Ben Tre Province, about two hours south of Ho Ci Minh City.

Last year I was introduced to Mr Binh through Tien Ho, the father of Peter and Sally Ho in our K-6.

Mr Binh visited Dominic College in 2017 to explore ways he could connect his Kindergartens in Ben Tre to a potential partner school in Australia.

I am delighted that since that first meeting, Mr Binh’s enterprise, Bao Quyen Investment & Education Development, and Dominic College have been able to establish a commitment to develop an international friendship between our two schools.

Dominic College will have a role in supporting and providing curriculum to guide Bao Quyen Kindergarten 2 to become an Australian standard Kindergarten, initially using the Australian Early Years Framework - Belonging, Being and Becoming.

Bao Quyen Kindergarten 2 will be integrating English into their curriculum and we will have a key role in supporting them. Together we will facilitate communications between the two schools that encourages understandings of similarities and differences between society and culture in Vietnam and Australia.

Asian-Australian Perspective

It is Le Thanh Bình’s and my hope that our Kindergartens will be exposed to an Asian-Australian perspective in both our school communities. We are hoping that, jointly, we will undertake the celebration of a biennial Asian-Australian Festival, commencing 2019.

With the support of Bao Quyen Investment & Education Development, Dominic College will continue to develop our Australian Curriculum cross curriculum priority: Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, with an emphasis on Vietnam.

Memorandum of Understanding

We are both committed to promoting resource sharing between the two school communities.

Our Memorandum of Understanding will see us co-develop deeper understandings of the Australia’s Early Years Learning Framework through an annual teacher exchange visit between the two schools to support teacher professional learning in the two different settings.

It will also see Dominic College, committing to provide annually face-to-face professional learning delivered to staff at Bao Quyen Kindergarten 2 in areas they identify for support.

It is indeed exciting that our Memorandum of Understanding is initially for a period of three years with the opportunity for renewal at the completion of this period.

There are great benefits of such a global regional partnership agreement to our schools as well as the broader public in both countries. May this be a long and fruitful partnership.

Ms Beth Gilligan - Dominic College Principal