CLEARWATER Middle School principal Derek Tully believes that in order for students to truly achieve, teachers themselves must be inspired.

And in the two years since Lisa Anne Rego has run the art programme at the St. David's institution, he has seen just that. The teacher has helped her students perform at such a high level that she now seeks to have their talents recognised internationally, through the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) - a programme now only offered through the private school system.

"She has really developed these children," Mr. Tully (pictured at right) said. "She has taken them to such an extent, that even though we are a middle school, she has started a GCSE programme here. Usually, children are on the bus at 3.30, I have to chase them out at 7 o'clock at night.

"And when you see some of the things they've done, you realis what Miss Rego has inspired in them. And this is on a continual basis. It's not just because we had a nice bunch one year and the next year was nothing. She's able to get the best out of these children. She's here with them on Saturday mornings. She's here with them until their mummys and daddys come and pick them up at seven o'clock at night. And that's unusual."

Half a dozen talented art students from Clearwater Middle School are hoping, with Miss Rego's assistance, to attain a GCSE in art. They will be the first group of students from the school to do so.

Said Mr. Tully: "This was the problem she faced, she'd reached a certain level and then wondered, 'What can I do with them now?' And then, she figured, why not get them through an international qualification? GCSE art. You can do GCSEs in Bermuda in (private) schools but it's not offered through the public system although they can sit it.

"So they're now working towards that final examination. You'll see the same (level of achievement) in private schools but it's always expected of them. This is public education. Nothing's expected of us. What she's done with them required a good teacher and we're proud of her."

Although she is obviously going beyond the call of duty, Mr. Tully says that Miss Rego is practising the philosophy of teaching adhered to by most middle schools.

"This is a middle school. It's the philosophy of middle school to develop children. They come from Primary Six, where they've had one teacher, into middle school, where they learn to explore. They explore art, they explore technology, they explore foreign languages, they explore the media center, they go exploring for three years.

"At the end of three years we've got a pretty good idea of how these children will develop - whether they're going to be scientists or artists or technology people.

"So we hand the child on and say to the high school, 'You don't have to do any more basic stuff, this child has been getting 100 per cent in maths for the last three years, 100 per cent in science and he can't do foreign languages. What do you think he'll be good at?'

"And the high schools take that and explore their strengths and weaknesses. They don't have to do it the old-fashioned way where you enter the first year of say, the Berkeley Institute (and take a multitude of subjects to determine where your strengths and weaknesses lie). It's all done by the time you get to high school. And one way we've found of letting children express themselves is by doing tactual stuff. By singing, by dancing, by doing art and music."

Proof that this worked, he added, was the success Clearwater Middle School had with its past head girl, Sharneil Paynter, now a student at the Berkeley Institute. According to Mr. Tully, it was through her studies with Miss Rego that Sharneil's artistic strengths were developed as far as they were.

"Education is from a latin word, ducare," he explained. "It means to lead out. That's where education comes from and that's what Miss Rego's done; she's gotten what's in those children, and brought it to the front. Teachers can inspire you in math or in science or whatever area. She's done it in art."

The principal added that Saturday morning classes were a regular occurrence with the students coming in willingly to participate.

"She's inspired them. She arrived two years ago and I've seen the children grow in art under her pupillage. She's done this magic stuff for the children and they've responded to her because she herself inspires them. She's inspired artistically and that's how she expresses herself - through art. And it's rubbed off on her kids. The parents love it. The children love it. The teacher loves it and the principal loves it."