Letter to XLIS Community from Deputy Head of School-Mr. Lalor

This year my family and I will complete eight years working at XLIS. I am delighted that next academic year I will have the opportunity to continue to work alongside my colleagues to achieve our school vision. During my time at the school I have seen some remarkable development. From our initial IBMYP authorization under Mr. Kirk Shaw in 2014, to seeing the PYP authorized and then the DP under Ms. Daun Yorke. XLIS has been going from strength to strength during this time and I hope to keep this development going. 

 

To any of you who do not know me I began my working life in engineering before moving to education in 2004. I started out as an early years teacher but ended up in upper primary. I hold a Bachelor Degree in Manufacturing Technology, a Graduate Diploma in Primary School teaching, a Master’s Degree in Education Leadership and hold Teacher Registration through the Queensland College of Teachers. I volunteer for the Accrediting Commission for Schools the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, supporting other international schools in their ongoing development. As well as this I am interested in poetry, sports and reading.

 

The vision or our school is to lead education through innovation and a student-center, community-driven approach. It is my hope that this will be achieved in the coming three to five years as we move from being a 3 programme IB world school to being a continuum school. This is a subtitle but significant difference. It is my goal to research best practices to lead education and to create one smooth, vertically aligned experience for our students as they transition from early years to primary school to middle school and then to high school. I am excited to make this vision happen alongside you as we take a community-driven approach.

 

XLIS has been growing rapidly over the past years and we currently serve 560 precious students.  In the next three years, XLIS will continue to be supported by the Shaanxi Provincial and Xi’an Municipal government, especially the  Xi’an High-Tech Zone. Dr. Lily Liu and I, with our staff will work together to develop XLIS into a top quality international school for the next three to five years. We will be particularly focused on the vertical articulation of the curriculum system from Early Years to High School. Another major focus of our work will be to align the professional development of teachers to our schoolwide action plan. Will you join us to innovate and create a first class education experience for the next generation.

Brian Lalor

Deputy Head of School（start from Aug 2022)