Learning for Life Programme (LLP)

Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP): “DINAN” Leadership Programme

The story of St. Louis Marie de Montfort in Dinan

One night while returning from a mission in Dinan (France), St. Louis Marie de Montfort found a poor and sick man all covered with sores on the street. He carried him on his back and brought him to the mission house. The door keeper of the house where he stayed was very much astonished to hear him knocked on the door at night and cried aloud several times “Open to Jesus Christ!” When the door keeper opened the door, he found that St. Louis de Montfort was carrying on his back a wretch covered with ulcers. Montfort took the sick man to his own room, laid him on his bed and spent the night either praying or warming and nursing the sick man. St. Louis de Montfort sees the poor the person of God Himself.

Through the inspiring act of Montfort’s humility and compassion for the poor and sick in Dinan, we seek to develop in our students Leadership through serving others in our school. Hence, the title of Assumption English School’s Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) is “DINAN” Leadership Programme.

The objective of the LLP is to develop our students (ie. Assumptionknights) to learn to serve others with humility, and through serving others, they will learn to demonstrate compassion to others and be ready to lead others. (leading through CHRIST values – Compassion, Humility, Respect, Integrity, Sense of Responsibility and Trust)

Our theme:

Those whom the world rejects must move you the most”

-St. Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort

Assumption English School is a Catholic school whose patron saint is Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort. He was a man of great vitality, courage and spiritual strength. Montfort once said, “Those whom the world rejects must move you the most.”

Montfort had guided the lives of those whom he touched, transforming individuals to respect the community of life and be harmonious in their relationships. Through the many inspiring stories of Montfort to those whom he had served; the last, the lost and the least, he had led and touched their lives. Through the many inspiring stories of St. Louis Marie de Montfort, we aim to develop Assumptionknights to “Learn to serve, Serve to lead, Lead to Inspire” which is the theme of our “DINAN” Leadership Programme

Our approach:

The school leverages on the LLP to provide students with learning opportunities to develop their servant leadership skills and inculcate values through service learning.

The approach to LLP is to cultivate Assumptionknights in learning to serve (ie. what it means and takes to serve others) and serving to lead and leading to inspire others.

The platforms to drive our approaches are as follows:

-    the differentiated and age appropriate meaningful VIA activities for the various levels

-    the learning opportunities and experiences provided through the Rance and Le Jardin Anglais (Learning Garden) for all students and student leaders

-    the “IGNITE” hub to develop the leadership competencies of our students with the aims to ignite the passion of learning, serving and leading in our students.

Le Jardin Anglais (Learning Garden)
Le Jardin Anglais (Learning Garden) is a garden in Dinan that offers a beautiful view of the Rance and the port.

At the top of the town, adjacent to the Basilique Ste-Sauveur on rue Victor Basch and overlooking the old town in the Rance Valley you will find Le Jardin Anglais. It was created from 1853 and is dedicated to the many English who moved to Dinan in the 19th century and were known as The English Colony. The gardens have various flower beds as well as areas of lawn and gravelled paths as is more typical of English gardens. In the warm October sunshine plenty of people were enjoying the garden, the many flowers still in bloom and the views over the old town from the rampart walls.

As part of the school LLP, the Learning Garden was developed to provide hands-on activities and learning experiences for our students to learn to serve the school by growing and cultivating useful plants. It allows the students to understand the hard work that has to be put in, to enjoy the harvest, drawn from the school’s motto of “Labor, Omnia, Vincit” which means “Through work, achieve success”. The harvest from the garden can be shared with visitors as well as the community around us, and can serve as a topic initiator for our students to share their experiences in growing the crops.

As a further extension to the programme, the students can host seniors from our community partners, sharing food made from the harvest, and foster intergenerational bonding through their interactions.

Le Jardin Anglais

Rance
Rance is a famous river into the ancient town of Dinan. On the route down the river towards Dinan, the journey will pass by Bizeux Rock with a statue of the Virgin Mary. As an environmentally-friendly town, there is a crossing of the lock of the Barrage de la Rance which is an EDF tidal power station that uses the resources of the strong tides rushing into the estuary to produce electricity.

As part of the school’s LLP, a water-featured pond was developed to provide a learning space and platform for our students to learn to serve the school by taking care of the pond and leading through sharing of their knowledge with their peers and juniors. It also aims to nurture and challenge our students to become leaders in taking charge of the school environment and taking responsibilities in contributing to others’ learning through sharing.

The pond would also allow students to co-construct part of the eco features, which would cultivate greater sense of ownership and servant leadership in our students.

As a further extension to the programme, we will be including a hydroelectric system for the water-featured pond.

River Rance, France

Ignite Hub

For this new Ignite Hub, it will be a versatile venue that resembles a “Makerspace” for Assumptionknights to ignite their creativity and curiosity as they learn more about everyday Science phenomenon. We wanted it to be a sustainable project that can benefit many batches of the Assumptionknights as a common Science learning experience in their 4 – 5 years in AES. The Ignite Hub will be managed by the Young Scientists and student leaders.

3-Tiered Leadership Framework

Thought Leadership	“Lead to Inspire”
Group Leadership	“Serve to Lead”
Self-Leadership	“Learn to Serve”