Re-accreditation of the pre-school, primary, secondary and high school departments of the School Cristóbal Colón in Veracruz, Mexico.
The Province of Mexico of the Order of Pious Schools states in its provincial project that all its schools observe the standards of pedagogical and pastoral quality. For this reason, the Cristobal Colon School promotes various actions to strengthen the educational processes offered.
In response to the project of the Province of Mexico for the accreditation of schools, it began its accreditation process in September 2013 with the 4th Model of the Accreditation System for Educational Quality for Private Schools in Mexico and received the corresponding plaques on 15 December 2016.
In April 2023, the General Management promotes the steps to seek re-accreditation of the school. The work submitted to the review committee was reviewed in a hybrid manner from 29 February to 4 March 2024. The review of processes focussed on seven key areas: Institutional Identity, Educational Agents, Management and Leadership, Curriculum Proposal, Student Services, Didactic Resources, and Social Projection.
On 4 March this year, the review panel’s verdict was positive, finding that the school met all the required criteria in the areas of pedagogy, administration, student support, community service and infrastructure, among others.
On 25 May this year, the Headmaster of the Cristóbal Colón School, Mtra. Emma Illescas Navarro, received the communiqué on the outcome of the 52nd Review Commission, in which it was decided, in accordance with the powers of the CNEP and the methodological procedure of the Educational Quality Accreditation System (SACE), that the accreditation for the pre-school, primary, secondary and high school sections of the 4th Model of the Educational Quality Accreditation System for Primary and Secondary Private Schools in Mexico would be extended for three years.
On 15 July 2024, the National Association of Private Schools A.C. (CNEP), the largest network of public schools in the education sector in Mexico, held the ceremony to present the plaques for the re-accreditation of Cristóbal Colón School with the 4th Model of the Educational Quality Accreditation System for Primary and Secondary Private Schools in Mexico. The event was held at the Cristóbal Colón School primary school, where the entire school community and parents gathered to witness this important moment for the school, which was founded 80 years ago.
Father Sergio Fernando Hernández Avilés, Provincial of the Pious Schools of Mexico and General Director of the Colegio Cristóbal Colón, Mtra. Emma Illescas Navarro, Headmaster of the Cristóbal Colón School, Sister Ana Luisa Domínguez Gasca, President of the National Confederation of Private Schools of Mexico, Lic. Vanessa del Barrio Hernández, Head of the Private Schools Department of the Regional Delegation of the Secretary of Education of Veracruz (SEV), Lic. María Amparo González Mata, President of the FED Veracruz Centro, Ms Yliana Hernández Lugo, Coordinator of the Institutional Process of Re-Accreditation, Ms Juana Inés de la Cruz Gheno Heredia, Academic Director of the High-school, Ms María Teresa Armas Cano, Academic Director of the Secundary School, Ms Silvia Edith Rojas Palomera, Advisor of the S.A.C.E. process, Mrs Yolanda A. Guerrero Arciniega, Academic Director of the Primary School and Lic. Bertha del C. Montalvo Olea, Academic Director of the Preschool.
Also present were the Piarist Fathers Fr José Luis Sánchez Macías, Provincial Economist of Mexico; Fr Absalón Salmerón Zapata, Vice-rector of the CECC; Fr. José Guadalupe Álvarez Martínez, Sch. P. Director of the Pastoral Department of the CECC; Fr. Jesús Álvarez Ferat, Parish piarist prist; and the school authorities to which the school departments are affiliated, among other guests.
It is important to mention that at the end of the visit, the evaluation of the verification team recognised the implementation of a management model by the General Directorate that promotes an efficient working dynamic of the organisational structure and a social projection in line with the institutional charism, which in turn offers the possibility of being a reference for other educational institutions. Ana Luisa Domínguez Gasca, President of the C.N.E.P., emphasised that the work carried out by the Cristóbal Colón School as part of the re-accreditation process will become a reference for the review and strengthening of this 4th Framework Programme.
This experience reinforces the conviction of the last four years that the revitalisation of the school is due to the animation and promotion of all processes from the point of view of the Piarist pastoral.
Cristóbal Colón School will continue to strive to be a place where all are welcome and where the motto “Piety and Letters” is a reality whose horizon, from the point of view of our students, is under the protection of Jesus Christ, St Joseph Calasanz and the Virgin Mary.
Mtra. Emma Illescas Navarro
Headmaster of the Cristóbal Colón School
Piarist Fraternal
