Colombia’s Secretary of Education, Juan Carlos Gomez Montoya, recently visited North Liverpool Academy, as part of his tour of the UK, which also included the University of Liverpool.
Mr Montoya is in charge of the Manizales region in Colombia, with over 150 schools. When asked why he wanted to visits NLA he said: “As an educational authority I want to make a real difference in Colombian schools and I’m looking for ideas to inspire me”.
The Secretary of Education received a tour of the school, its facilities, displays and even some of the lessons. He watched the great learning atmosphere in NLA, teachers were very friendly and happy to share the classroom learning experiences.
Then he held a meeting with NLA’s Principal, Mr Westerdale, where he displayed a great interest in the school, the pupils’ progress, the management of the school, career paths and sixth form. He was also very eager to know about the wider Northern School Trust and was enthusiastic about building bridges with Colombian schools to share teaching and learning experiences and maybe a future exchange.