IGBM leadership meet with ARLEP counterparts in Madrid
The leadership of the District of Ireland, Great Britain and Malta enjoyed a special week in Madrid as guests of their counterparts from ARLEP (the District of Spain and Portugal).
The aim of the series of meetings was to share information and ideas, to learn new approaches and to look at opportunities for further collaboration in the future.
The IGBM and ARLEP leadership during their meetings in Madrid
The week began when a delegation visited the Lasallian school and care facility at Griñón on Monday. The group received a very warm reception and given a tour of the very modern care facility, where they had a chance to meet many of the Brothers.
They were also given a tour of the adjoining school which provided an opportunity to see the great work being done with the young people.
The meetings began on Tuesday morning when Brother Visitor José Román Pérez Conde welcomed all from the District of IGBM.
Director of Mission, Joe Gilson, and Director of Educational Centres, Br. Jesús Félix Martínez, both outlined the structures in each District, which led to valuable discussion.
In the afternoon, there was a chance to learn more about individual roles in a series of peer-to-peer meetings.
MEL Council members from La Salle IGBM and ARLEP
On Wednesday morning the groups reviewed their respective Mission Assemblies, and the discussions that arose included enlightening exchanges on The Leavening Project.
On Thursday morning there was a joint meeting of the Mission Councils of ARLEP and IGBM.
After morning coffee, the IGBM Mission Council spent the rest of the day planning for the next academic year. Topics covered were Mission Structures, Calendar of Events, including The Leavening Fund and the Superior General’s visit to Ireland and Britain.
On Friday morning the group travelled by the metro to visit Colegio La Salle Sagrado Corazón in the north of Madrid. This was one of the first La Salle schools to use the New Concept of Learning (Nuevo Contexto de Aprendizaje - NCA) that is now used in all of the schools in the District of ARLEP (Spain & Portugal). We visited the infant, junior and senior classes and were impressed by the enthusiasm of the students for learning.
According to the documentation they provided to us, ‘The New Context of Learning (NCA) is a framework based on learning competence, experiential, transversal, instrumental, social, adaptive and, at the same time, contextualised in each of La Salle’s educational works.’
Also at this college, the ARLEP District has a commercial printing press that they use to print all the textbooks needed for the NCA lessons in all the La Salle schools in ARLEP. These textbooks were produced by teachers seconded for the schools for three months.
In the afternoon, Brothers Michael and Aidan had lunch at the Novitiate in order to meet the two novices, Borja and Cristian, who will be spending a month in Oxford improving their English.
In the afternoon the IGBM Mission Council continued their planning for the next educational year.
In the evening, everybody, including some Brothers from ARLEP’s District Council, went to a nearby restaurant for a celebratory meal. It was also a way of saying thank you to the Brothers who kindly hosted us at Centro La Salle ARLEP, Madrid.
