From a dream in our mind’s-eye, to the first bamboo pole raised, to building the biggest and most magnificent structure on the planet. Green School is making a difference in education, far beyond the boundaries of its stunning bamboo campus.
Next year will mark ten years since the first Green School families first enrolled, with a shared belief that education needed to change. A belief that we owed our children a better education. An education that focused on the whole child, equipping them with the skills to not just get a job, but to become green leaders in a world that desperately needs them.
Ten years on, the School has grown stronger and much more relevant. With the world rapidly changing and new opportunities for learning emerging, Green School’s mandate is to stay on point to address environmental issues in the most dynamic ways. As the Founders of Green School Bali, we have been privileged and pleased to witness the growth of the Green School movement, as it continues to be a beacon of hope in education and sustainability worldwide.
Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide connect with Green School each year. People wanting to participate, learn and share new ways of educating. In just 10 years, Green School has firmly taken its place as the vanguard of progressive learning and learning for sustainability.
When we look at the School now, we see our original dream brought to life. We see a place of learning for local and global children and their families, a microcosm of the globalised world. A community made up of 33 nationalities, highly representative of local children; indeed, Green School Bali is a community of learners, committed to making our world sustainable.
No one knows better than the children themselves that connecting, collaborating and developing the skills necessary to embrace the opportunities and challenges of the world today and tomorrow is what they need. When we see global youth movements like Bye Bye Plastic Bags, cross-school collaborations on renewable energies such as Operation Rain or Shine, we know that students can learn and experience the power of making a difference while still at school. We owe this to the next generations; it is their future, it will be their world. This is our legacy.
The Green School journey continues and the evolution in education world-wide must also continue. As we head towards our ten year anniversary, we celebrate Green School’s place in the world of education.
It has been our great joy to witness not only the growth of the school but every child within it. Their growth intellectually, creatively, socially, emotionally and physically – true to the holistic philosophy of Green School Bali. Of course, dear to our own hearts are the local Balinese children who have thrived as Green School Local Scholars. We now have 31 full time Scholars enrolled this year and as the program has grown year to year, we are looking forward to welcoming nine new Scholars in 2017/18.
There is much to celebrate after ten years of growth. There is much to do. But this is the kind of education the world needs. As we now embark on establishing a Green School Foundation, we remain as committed as ever to be offering children the opportunity to access a Green School education.
We dreamt it, we planned it, we built it, and now we are truly celebrating it. In just a few weeks, we will witness the graduation of the fifth Grade 12 class. With a holistic education behind them, an internationally accredited Green School diploma in their hands, a strong sense of their place in the world as global citizens, they graduate skilled and equipped to embrace life’s amazing possibilities. They are the change makers. They are the future. They are the living example of the School of the Future, Now.
Cynthia & John Hardy
Founders,
Green School