Mike Farrer is the new Head of School at Nobel International School Algarve.
The 48-year-old from Liverpool told the Resident that he “loves” his new life in the Algarve and is excited to make a “very good school even greater”.
In a nutshell, Farrer has three main goals he wants to accomplish – make children “take responsibility for their learning”, make them more “internationally aware” and “bring the school into the 21st century by making it more technologically advanced”.
In other words, the new education boss wants students to “make the most of the opportunity their parents have given them”, and soak up all the knowledge they can.
Farrer also wants to expand his students’ horizons, giving them a more international outlook on life and possibly holding field trips to other countries.
Finally, the Englishman also wants Wi-Fi access available to all students, and plans to carry out improvements on school infrastructures.
“Though I’m already experienced, I’m still young enough to be filled with motivation to accomplish all these goals,” he told us.
Farrer took up his first teaching position at a large secondary school in Coventry.
Six years later, he was offered a “life-changing opportunity” to teach at one of the leading independent schools in South Africa.
Though it was meant to be just a “one-year experience”, Farrer ended up spending 20 years at the school, getting married and having three daughters.
But his biggest accomplishment came when he was invited by a group of businessmen to build, lead and design his own school, Pecanwood College.
It opened 11 years ago with 43 students and today has 783 pupils and over 150 boarders.
The opportunity to take on a new challenge came when the Nobel Education Network offered Farrer the opportunity to work in the Algarve in November.
“Me and my family had been here on holiday around a year ago, and even said how great it would be to live here,” he said.
He is relishing the challenge ahead of him and is inviting everyone to get to know him and his plans at an Open Night event on May 24 at Nobel Algarve Espiche. The event begins at 6.30pm and is open to everyone.
To book your place, email info@nobelalgarve.com
By MICHAEL BRUXO michael.bruxo@algarveresident.com
