In its quest for even further excellence, Green Hills Academy, a mixed nursery, primary and secondary school considered to be the country’s premier school has recently acquired a new Head teacher.

Ron Wallace, a Canadian with over 35 years experience in running schools, took over the academics turf from Mrs. Jill Fenton in a bid to further boost the institution’s distinctive eminence. He has been at the school for two weeks now.

"My specialty is in moving systems to excellence and high performance, and I am really encouraged by Green Hills,” Wallace said in an exclusive interview Friday.

Wallace has some 14 years experience as a primary and secondary school headmaster and 21 years as a ‘School Superintendent’ in New Brunswick, Alberta – Canada.

"The first thing we are going to do is prepare students for future work experience … teach them how to think and express that thinking in writing and speaking,” Wallace said enthusiastically. He praised the staff’s good work ethics and the students’ good learning attitude as encouraging.

"I am really honored to be here,” he said and emphasized the significance of training young people for leadership. The school’s feats include being the only one in the country with international accreditation. It is accredited as a Cambridge International Centre and an International Baccalaureate World School.

Fenton who now moves on to be Executive Director of the school’s Board, emphasised that providing an excellent program for Rwandan students will make them competitive all over the world.

Green Hills’ students also get full scholarships to top American universities including Harvard University even though the academy is not challenge-free.

"Any new school will have challenges in providing resources,” Fenton acknowledged.

"For instance, we are bringing in text books from as far as France, the UK, Canada and others,” she said.  

Construction on a hilly terrain – Nyarutarama area where the school is located – is another serious test Fenton cited while showing this reporter around an all-inclusive nursery block underconstruction. She believes that the school is not as expensive as people might suppose.

"We are a school for Rwandan children, we are an affordable school. We are not for profit. All the money from fees gets put back into the school to improve education,” Fenton explained.

"Nobody here [staff] gets an international salary. We are all here because education is our passion and we want to provide the best education for the Rwandan children,” she said. 

A new imposing earthquake-proofed nursery block to cater for 250 children is expected to be ready by September this year.

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