Green Flower Group on Monday

On Monday afternoon, the Green Flower Group made a SALT visit to Joie de Vivre, an inspirational school for children with a variety of learning challenges and Ecole Emmanuelle, a school in a poor area of Flac

Joie de Vivre School

“We are one and we move forward together.”

Here are the strengths that we saw at the Joie de Vivre school:

• The teachers have an inner conviction about the abilities of the child.

• The teachers appreciate the strengths of each child.

• In the midst of a lot of difficulties, the emphasis is on strengths: dancing, music, sport, running etc.

• Teachers have a passion for the children. You can see it in the way the teachers respond to the children and in the way the children respond to the teachers. It is warm, affectionate and trusting.

• There is an inner conviction about what the children and the teachers can achieve together.

• There is a steady emphasis on the simple things and they are passionate about those things.

• There is clear pride in the teachers and the work that they do.

• There is a remarkable sense of unity between the children and the teachers. It is beautifully captured by the motto of the school, “We are one and we move forward together.” We did indeed have a conviction that they would move forward together. No child would be left behind.

Ecole Emmanuelle

Then we moved on to Ecole Emmanuel, a local school working in a very poor area of Flic.

Here are the strengths we saw at the Emmanuel School:

• Madame Sylvestre is a remarkably strong leader. She is a woman who can move mountains. She appears to have unlimited compassion.

• For the school to have arrived at where it is today, Madame Sylvestre has had to raise financing and has committed her personal resources.

• Madame Sylvestre is very modest about her achievements. Her capacities are well appreciated by the other members of the group.

• Madame Sylvestre is very confident about her position in the neighbourhood. She walks about confidently, knows everyone and is known by everyone.

• People in the group are confident in the knowledge of the school and what goes on there. They are prepared to further. They believe that they can provide their children with an education at the school.

What went well (both visits)

• The group felt happy with the visits. There was a pleasing exchange of ideas.

• The rearrangement of the chairs, particularly with the first group, was very effective making us one group.

• The group felt that their response in the second visit was much better than the first visit. (Two SALT visits are better than one.)

• In both groups, there was energy in the engagement. The conversation moved forward. People seemed engaged.

• The facilitators showed energy and commitment.