St Francis de Sales College, Mount Barker, is one of eight schools across Australia that was successful in its bid for a Federal Department of Education grant to support the building of educational links with schools in India. The Program is called ‘Australia- India BRIDGE Partnership Program’. Minister Pyne officially launched the program on Monday 24 August together with The Hon Mr Jamie Briggs MP, Federal Member for Mayo. A video link connected St Francis de Sales College students and staff with Delhi Public School and Minister Pyne and Mr Mukesh Kumer to showcase the schools’ partnership.
Speaking of the Australia- India Bridge partnership Mr Pyne said:
“The BRIDGE programme allows students and teachers to learn from one another and build lasting cultural ties and skills.”
A significant component of this program is for staff and students from St Francis de Sales College and Delhi Public School to broaden their knowledge and appreciation of the India – Australia collaboration and to deepen cross cultural understandings through collaborative projects and site visits. The program also builds relationships through Intercultural dialogue and growing engagement. St Francis de Sales Principal Pam Ronan is pleased with the educational opportunities that the Australia–India BRIDGE program offers.
“Our College is very privileged to be collaborating with the highly acclaimed Delhi Public School in New Delhi that currently educates 9,500 students,” she said.
The Australia – India BRIDGE Partnership Program will involve staff member Michelle Parkes spending four days in Melbourne this year where she will meet Mr Mukesh Nagpal. Mr Nagpal will then spend time visiting St Francis de Sales College and teaching in classrooms for 10 days. A reciprocal visit by Michelle Parkes to Delhi Public School will then occur in 2016, to further deepen the connections between the two schools and the wider communities.
The Australia–Asia BRIDGE (Building Relationships through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement) School Partnerships Project is a blended model of face-to-face teacher professional learning and online engagement that connects teachers, students and school communities with their counterparts in Asia to increase awareness and understanding of contemporary Australia and Asia. The inaugural Australia-Indonesia BRIDGE School Partnerships Project was implemented as a pilot in 2008. It has since expanded to 243 BRIDGE partnerships (486 schools and over 745 teachers) with global partnerships across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.
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