We are happy to welcome our new Head of Avenor International High School, Andrew Kearns. He has been teaching for 11 years, mainly in the UK and he is coming to Bucharest after managing an international school in Mandalay, Myanmar. He will be taking over the management of the Avenor International High School starting September 2016. His goal is to make sure that our high school students manage to exceed their expectations and gain the necessary skills for their next level of education. We let him introduce himself:
I am delighted to be joining Avenor College at this very exciting time. I will make it my job to ensure that our students exceed their expectations and garner the skills required for their next level of education – those of independent learning, research skills, questioning abilities and the ability to challenge, the skill of leadership and the ability to enforce change.
I treat pupils as individuals and they will become aware of their own personal strengths and areas for development. No child will be left behind as they learn to take responsibility for their own learning. They will be made to understand that making mistakes demonstrates effort and they will learn that while knowledge is power, the ability to question and challenge are the skills of influence.
We are responsible for tomorrows’ game changers in this beautiful country and our pupils will be the movers and shakers in what they will make an amazing Romania, a country whose success in Europe and the wider world will depend on our pupils.
I will teach at Avenor College as I believe it is vital that senior management remain in contact with the learners in the school. I will model outstanding teaching methods and help nurture the citizens of tomorrow.
I keep up to date with teaching methodologies and I will ensure that the teaching team that is responsible for your children is constantly learning the best ways to teach. There will not be a “life raft” dependency on textbooks – although they do remain a vital part of the learning process – but teachers will become fluent in group-work and games, learning outside of the classroom, the use of media in the classroom, philosophy for learning, self study, investigation, “blue sky” learning and debate. If teachers stop learning, then children stop learning.
I graduated from Liverpool University in 2004 and I was one of the first on Britain’s Graduate Teaching Programme where graduates learn to teach ‘on the job’ and this baptism of fire has made me a very strong teacher and subsequent leader of education. I have been teaching for 11 years, mainly in the UK and I come to you from managing a very similar school in Mandalay, Myanmar. I also have a background in business management and this has helped shape my leadership style.
Away from work, I read and I enjoy all areas of the performing arts and in another life I would have been in Duran Duran. I am a keen cook and I am a huge skier so you will find me frequently in the ski resorts of the Carpathian Mountains. I enjoy travelling and have been blessed to have been to many different countries and to have experienced many different cultures.
