Le Mao Primary School: 30-year journey of nurturing green shoots

Dedicated to the profession

Le Mao Primary School was formerly Le Mao Primary and Secondary School. 30 years ago, the previous school was separated and named Le Mao Primary School, later Le Mao Primary School. Since its establishment until now, the school has been located at 99 Dinh Cong Trang Street, Vinh City.

Established in the context of the country and the province just emerging from the subsidy period, the school faced many difficulties in the beginning. The physical facilities consisted of only a 2-storey building with 10 classrooms built in 1963 and 3 rows of 4-storey houses with bamboo and thatch roofs. At that time, Le Mao was also one of the central wards with the largest number of students in the city, so although the whole school had 39 classrooms and nearly 1,500 students, it only had 24 rooms including functional rooms and classrooms, many of which were dilapidated and lacked desks and chairs. To maintain the organization of teaching 1 session/day, the school had to organize 3 shifts (morning, noon, afternoon). It is worth mentioning that in the first days, although facing many shortages, that only multiplied the enthusiasm, love for the profession and children.

Teachers in those days, one day in class, the other day enthusiastically devoted themselves to school and class work such as making teaching aids, renovating classrooms, tables and chairs, digging the ground to plant flowers to beautify the school grounds. In particular, identifying professional work as the core task, the collective of teachers strived to compete in teaching well and studying well. Countless sleepless nights with many worries about lessons, heated discussions for demonstration lessons for excellent teachers, lessons to train excellent students at the city, provincial and national levels. Because of these achievements, although the school was newly established, it quickly gained prestige with parents and students and was trusted by department leaders and city authorities.

This was also a period that marked many achievements of the collective of teachers, including Ms. Pham Phuong Lan (former Principal of the school), Ms. Ha Thi Thuy, Ms. Vo Thi Phien (former Vice Principal of the school), Ms. Tran Ngan Hoa, Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong (former President of the school's Trade Union)... who later became good managers; Ms. Le Thi Cong Tan, Le Thi Bich Lien, Nguyen Thi Hoa, Phan Le Hoa, Nguyen Thi Huong Mai, Nguyen Thi Le, Dinh Thi Thu, Tran Song Lien, Vo Kim Nhung, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Lan, Nguyen Thi Vinh, Nguyen Thi Minh Tam, Nghiem Thi Xuyen, Tran Thi Loi, Phung Kim Tuyen (former President of the school's Trade Union)... who later became exemplary and prestigious teachers.

Determination to innovate

The school's transformation began in 1995, when the Party Committee and local authorities paid attention and invested in the school to eliminate the thatched houses and pilot the boarding model (studying 2 sessions and staying overnight with meals), although in the first year there were only 2 classes with 70 students participating. By 2000, with the advantages of this model, the boarding school was expanded throughout the school and became one of the pioneering schools in the city. This was also the period that witnessed the change in the leadership team, when teacher Nguyen Phuong Lan retired and the superiors transferred Mr. Tran Van Phuong - former Principal of Trung Do Primary School to become the school's principal.

From August 2001 to August 2008, during 8 years of working with the school, he and the vice principals, Ms. Ha Thuy, Ms. Ngan Hoa and later Ms. Tran Thi Kim Chi, Ms. Nguyen Thi Quyen, together built a united, strong team, achieving many high achievements in teaching. The number of excellent teachers in the province and excellent students at all levels of the school is a remarkable and famous number. The teachers have repeatedly achieved excellent teachers at all levels such as Ms. Nguyen Thi Quyen, Ms. Truong Thi Kim Luu, Ms. Tran Thi Ly, Ms. Phan Hong Van, Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, Ms. Le Thuy Vinh; excellent team leader - Ms. Tran Thi Chau Long, Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa... Ms. Le Thuy Vinh is one of 36 Nghe An teachers honored as "Outstanding teachers in the period 2008 - 2013". The school's achievements during this period were recognized by proud emulation results such as the Certificate of Merit for outstanding achievements in the education and training career from the Ministry of Education and Training, the Certificate of Merit for being the leading flag in the education and training career from the Provincial People's Committee, the Third Class Labor Medal...

During these years, the school continued to receive special attention from the local government. Thanks to that, 2 rows of 2-storey buildings were built to replace 2 rows of level 4 houses, providing enough classrooms for each class, 1 classroom, 2 sessions/day; Multi-function rooms were also built, actively contributing to physical education, improving the overall quality of education for the school. This was also the premise for the school to be recognized as a National Standard School and a Certificate of Recognition of a Central-level Cultural Facility in early 2008. In August 2008, Principal Tran Van Phuong was awarded the noble title - Excellent Teacher.

In the late 2000s, due to the increase in student numbers, the school faced a difficult period in terms of facilities, lack of classrooms, functional rooms, and degraded school grounds. For many years, students in the school had to take extra classes on holidays due to lack of classrooms and teachers. However, despite the difficult conditions, Mr. Dang Quang Canh - Principal of the school still directed the teaching staff, maintaining good teaching and learning. Thanks to that, during the 6 school years from 2008 - 2014, there were 5 consecutive years when the school completed its tasks excellently, achieving the title of Excellent Labor Collective at the Provincial level; the principal himself achieved the title of Emulation Fighter at the Provincial level in 2012. After Mr. Dang Quang Canh transferred jobs, Ms. Truong Thi Kim Luu was elected as principal and has held this position since 2014 until now.

During this period, the school had many advantages, such as a team with standard qualifications and a strong solidarity bloc.have good moral qualities, high sense of responsibility, awareness of learning, exchanging experiences with each other, many teachers have solid skills, take care of professional work. In addition, the Board of Directors all reside in the ward, are dedicated to their work, dynamic, creative, flexible in management. The school has also regularly received specific and close guidance from the Department of Education and Training in implementing the tasks of the school year, so it has been flexible and creative in its innovation orientation. Another advantage is that local leaders are always interested, the Parents' Association is ready to coordinate with the school in all activities; the school's facilities and teaching equipment increasingly meet the requirements of innovation in school management and teaching.

However, the school still faces many difficulties such as the lack of teaching experience and homeroom work of young teachers; the majority of female teachers, many teachers are in poor health; the lives of a number of teachers and service staff are still very difficult and especially the classroom block has seriously degraded, the shortage of classrooms for an entire block has not been overcome. Because of this, from 2016 to now, the school has focused all resources to invest in and upgrade facilities and teaching and learning equipment. Thanks to that, up to now, the school is considered one of the schools with the best facilities in the city. Currently, 2 classroom blocks have been upgraded with modern teaching equipment. Functional rooms, multi-purpose halls, libraries, team rooms, traditional rooms, sports equipment, playgrounds, and training grounds have been completed. The semi-boarding kitchen ensures food safety and hygiene requirements, increasingly serving teaching and learning better, meeting the requirements and tasks of education in the period of innovation.

Efforts for development

To implement Resolution No. 29 - NQ/TW on fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training from 2015 to present, the school's Board of Directors, including Ms. Truong Thi Kim Luu - Principal, 2 Vice Principals Nguyen Hoang Yen, Pham Thi Truong Giang, together with the school's teachers and staff, have proposed feasible solutions to maintain and organize educational activities well. Therefore, the school has directed the effective implementation of the 2-session/day educational program with boarding, appropriately applying the elements of the new primary school model; innovating teaching methods towards developing learners' capacity; Strengthening and diversifying teaching methods through specific activities, organizing many useful and interesting educational support activities to promote individual capacity, contributing to the implementation of the goal of comprehensive education for students.

The school has especially enhanced experiential activities suitable for each age group; built a reading culture; sports, arts, physical education activities during breaks, and flag-raising activities at the beginning of the week have been innovated, creative, and have practical significance. In the 2019-2020 school year, Le Mao Primary School is one of the 6 primary schools in the city that has been directed to pilot the introduction of STEM education into the extracurricular curriculum to guide students to practical activities and apply knowledge to create products or solve real-life problems, equipping them with the necessary knowledge and skills related to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics... This is a step towards a new teaching method - a teaching method to develop learners' capacity.

"The success of Le Mao Primary School comes first and foremost from the school's Board of Directors, who have always been concerned with finding advice and connecting schools and families to create the best environment for education; always knowing how to motivate and encourage the team and create a positive, enthusiastic and proactive working style."

Ms. Ngo Thi Nguyet - Deputy Head of Education and Training Department of Vinh City

With the tireless efforts of teachers and students, over the years, the school has had many students achieve high results in exams and exchanges. There are 181 excellent students at the city level, 54 excellent students at the provincial level, and 42 excellent students at the national level. Notable in the 2013-2014 school year were Mai Bao Thanh who won the National IOE English Gold Medal, Thai Quynh Phuong who won the Encouragement Prize for Beautiful Handwriting held at the Temple of Literature - Quoc Tu Giam, and the Grade 5 Excellent Student Team who won the First Prize in the City-level Math Competition for Children, Nguyen Le Hung who was the valedictorian and the only candidate representing the province's primary school level to participate in the National Youth Informatics Competition and won the Second Prize, bringing honor to Nghe An province and the school... In addition to the achievements in cultural subjects, the school also pays special attention to physical education with many students winning prizes at the Phu Dong Sports Festival and the National Chess Competition.

The school's journey of construction and development must be mentioned in the achievements of staff training. In the past 10 years, the school has 4 teachers who have achieved emulation fighters at the provincial level, 86 teachers who have achieved emulation fighters at the grassroots level, 7 teachers who have achieved excellent teaching results at the provincial level, and 28 teachers who have achieved excellent teaching results at the city level. The whole school has 86 city-level initiatives and 4 provincial-level initiatives. The young teaching staff in the new period is very dynamic, creative, and proficient in applying information technology in teaching...

Over the past 30 years, the school's Party cell has always been worthy of being the core of comprehensive leadership of the school's activities in accordance with the Party's educational and training goals, aiming to build a school that is constantly developing and is a source of cadres for the City's Department of Education and Training. During the past term, the school has maintained the title of Excellent Advanced Emulation at the provincial level for 5 consecutive years, and the unit has achieved outstanding results in implementing Directive 08-CT/TW on "Strengthening the Party's leadership on food safety issues in the new situation".

After 30 years of construction and development, the achievements that Le Mao Primary School has achieved today are the result of the persistent efforts and struggles of the school's leadership, teachers and students through generations. In addition, there is the attention of Party committees at all levels, city authorities, the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City and especially the support and enthusiasm of a large number of parents and students.

On the occasion of the school's founding anniversary, Ms. Truong Thi Kim Luu - Principal of the school also affirmed: Over the past three decades, what we are most proud of is always maintaining the quality of education of the school and always being an educational address trusted by parents and students. Preserving and promoting the school's tradition, the collective leadership, teachers and staff of Le Mao Primary School are determined to join hands and compete to teach well, achieve many achievements to be worthy of the trust, expectations and worthy of the school named after the loyal Soviet revolutionary soldier./.