This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
I first found out about The Green School in Bali from friends as their son had helped to build it. Since then I have followed the school keeping abreast of their incredible achievements.
This week we are focusing on sustainability on our website. Therefore I thought I would introduce you to the work that this inspirational school is doing.
After selling their jewellery company in 2007, John Hardy and his wife, Cynthia, funded a thrilling new project: the Green School in Bali. It is a progressive, dynamic and wall-less PreK-12 school, located in the lush jungle of Bali, Indonesia.
Kids learn in open-air classrooms surrounded by acres of gardens that they tend; they learn to build with bamboo; meanwhile they’re being prepared for traditional British school exams. The school is international – 20% of students are Bali locals, some on scholarship. The centrepiece of the campus is the spiralling Heart of School, which may be called Asia’s largest bamboo building. Hardy has long been an advocate of the use of bamboo as an alternative to timber for building and reforestation…
From our origins at Green School Bali, we are committed to educating for sustainability in a natural environment through our purpose-driven curriculum.
We believe schools should be places of joy, and strive to champion a new model of education that fully ignites the imagination of children so they can engage and learn with optimism, inventiveness and wonder.
Green School’s mission of “a community of learners making our world sustainable” sets the core philosophy of why and how the School educates. The “Green School Way” is to prepare for the real world by being involved in it now; to have impact now; to take responsibility now; and to model and practice the skills and mindsets that we will need later on, now.
The world our children will inherit is changing faster than any time in history. For our children to prosper and humankind to flourish, we need a new kind of education.
“At Green School, we believe that students learn more from how they are taught than from what they are taught.”
The Green School Learning Programme seeks to find a balance between the skills, values and discipline-based competencies that prepare learners for an ever-changing world.
“…I have visited many different places and many schools but this is the most unique and impressive school I have ever visited.”
Ban Ki-moon
In 2010 John Hardy was asked to speak at TED about Green School. He received a standing ovation. John’s latest TED talk was recorded in March 2019. I shared this video with a friend of my son who is a teacher in London. She found it so inspirational. She felt that there was a way forward with teaching where you could inspire and guide children to do better for themselves and good for the world around them. Watch for yourself.
For more information go to The Green School website.