Meet Gabriela Valla, our Early Years and Primary Vice-Principal
Canadian International School of Guangzhou
2021-11-19
With a teaching and administrative career spanning 25 years in Canada, Slovakia, Hungary, Malta and China, Ms. Valla is no stranger to international education. She comes to CIS with a passion to make a difference and inspire our community to continue to collaborate, innovate and succeed.
We managed to catch Ms. Valla for a few minutes before she stepped into one of our classrooms for an observation! She shares her thoughts on what it takes to build a caring learning community with a great climate for communication, collaboration and success.
Leadership is a cornerstone here at CIS! We strongly encourage and provide students with plenty of opportunities to be involved and take leadership, including becoming part of our Student Council, volunteering to supervise events and activities, planning an activity for our UN SDG program or joining our rigorous athletics program. There is so happening here at CIS, and this allows us to live up to our mission of developing socially responsible lifelong learners that are able to problem solve, think critically and make positive changes in our safe and caring global community. Q2:What is your philosophy towards building a great school climate? I sincerely believe that a great school climate takes hard work every day, and every single person at a time has to make a contribution for us to achieve amazing results. This is why parent communication is so critical here at CIS. We always take the time to listen, understand, empathize, and share what we do. We always do the right thing even if it’s hard, as it helps people understand they reason why. The other key is to talk to people in person. It’s easy to communicate via WeChat, email etc., and these are excellent communication tools, But, not for everything. In fact, nothing beats a smile and a face-to-face conversation to help with climate and positive relationships. At CIS, our doors are always open for a friendly chat! Q3:Anything else you'd like to share with our community? When I became a school leader, I promised myself that every single day, that I would do my best and do the right thing even when it wasn’t easy. I have since added to that promise to ensure that my two sons and I have quality time together. We are indeed lucky to have a huge family here at CIS, who have made us feel very welcome! Thank you, CIS! The grizzly spirit is in all our hearts!
Prev：
Back
