Green School (Bali)

Green School Bali
Location
Bali, Indonesia
Information
School type Private Alternative/ Sustainability Education
Founded 2008
Status Open
Website http://www.greenschool.org/

Green School (Bali) is a non-profit, private and international pre-kindergarten to high school located along the Ayung River [1] near Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.[2]

The school was founded by John and Cynthia Hardy. The Hardys reportedly conceived of Green School in 2006 after reading Alan Wagstaff’s Three Springs concept document for an educational village community,[3] but have also attributed the inspiration to the Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth.[4] The School’s bamboo bridge, spanning 22 meters across the Ayung River, was completed in November 2006. Green School opened in September 2008 with 90 students and a tailor-made campus that emerged from the jungle and rice fields. Since then it has grown to approximately 400 students.[5]


Ecological design

Despite early intentions to live off the grid, as of 2014 the school's 70+ buildings are not off the grid[2] but use some renewable energy sources including micro-hydro power[6] from a "hydroelectric vortex",[7] and solar power.

The campus is designed around the principles of an organic permaculture system,[6] and the students cultivate an organic garden as part of their learning activities.[6] Buildings are constructed primarily from renewable resources including bamboo, local grass, and traditional mud walls.[6] The campus has been reported as an example of the large-scale building potential of bamboo architecture,[8][9] especially “The Heart of the School”, a 60-meter long[9] stilt-structure constructed with 2500 bamboo poles.[10] The school also utilizes renewable building materials for some of its other needs,[11] although senior students are required to use laptops.[12]

In January 2015, Green School High School students launched The Bio Bus, a student-led social enterprise to provide sustainable transport services to Green School students, teachers and community.[13] This initiative looked at solving the transportation system to the rural setting of Green School which mainly included private cars, carpooling and motorbikes. The Bio Bus now has three 18-seater buses that run purely on biodiesel (B100) made from used cooking oil.[14]

Curriculum

Green School Bali’s vision is to educate young green leaders in global citizenship. The curriculum is a progressive model of learning that connects the timeless lessons from nature to a relevant and effective preparation for a fast-changing future within the guiding values of integrity, responsibility, empathy, sustainability, peace, equality, community, and trust.[15]

The school consists of four learning neighbourhoods - Early Years, Primary School, Middle School & High School. Special programmes include Green Studies, environmental science, entrepreneurial learning, and the creative arts. [16] The structure is the Three Frame Day which includes the Integral Frame, the Instructional Frame, and the Experiential Frame. [17]

The school reportedly "prepares students to be stewards of the environment, teaching them to be critical and creative thinkers, who champion the sustainability of the world and the environment."[3]

Board of Directors

In 2015 Green School launched a Strategic Review process to include members of the faculty, parents, local community and board of directors in the spirit of the progressiveness of the school. To meet this evolution, the governance structure of Green School was updated and made public. [18] School Board Members have included Roger J. Hamilton David Heffernan. Ronald Stones, Nadya Hutagalung, Mickey Ackerman, Chris Saye, Derek Montgomery and Theo Bakker.[19]

Awards

Green School was awarded the 2012 "Greenest School on Earth" award by the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council.[20][21] The school was a finalist for the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.[1][22]

Notable students

Melati and Isabel Wijsen, the founders of initiative Bye Bye Plastic Bags,[23] are students at the school. In September 2015 they spoke at TEDGlobal London and in December 2015 at Wonderfruit in Thailand about the problem of plastic pollution on the island of Bali.[24] Through their efforts the Governor of Bali has committed that Bali will be free of plastic bag use by 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 "Aga Khan Award for Architecture". Retrieved 8 Nov 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Jakarta Globe: A Hardy School: A Green Future". Retrieved 24 Oct 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Ecology: Bali's Green School". Retrieved 25 Oct 2012.
  4. ↑
  5. ↑ https://www.greenschool.org/about/
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Treehugger.com: New Green School opens in Bali". Retrieved 24 Oct 2012.
  7. ↑ "CNN: Green School Bali". Retrieved 24 Oct 2012.
  8. ↑ "DesignBoom: Bamboo Pure Green School". Retrieved 25 Oct 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Domus: The Green School". Retrieved 25 Oct 2012.
  10. ↑ "Daily Telegraph". Retrieved 7 Nov 2012.
  11. ↑ "Globe and Mail". Retrieved 7 Nov 2012.
  12. ↑ "The Green School Family Heartbook" (PDF). Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  13. ↑ "Youths As Agents of Change- Bio Bus Plenary Presentation" (PDF). Renewable Energy Forum 2015. October 2015.
  14. ↑ 2"How Used Cooking Oil Powers A School Bus In Bali". TedXUbud. August 2016.
  15. ↑ "Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon commends initiative for 1 million green youth ambassadors in Indonesia by 2017". UNORCID. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  16. ↑ https://www.greenschool.org/programme/
  17. ↑ https://www.greenschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Primary-School-Curriculum-Overview_Photo.pdf
  18. ↑ https://www.greenschool.org/about/
  19. ↑ "Green School Board". Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  20. ↑ "Center For Green Schools". Retrieved 7 Nov 2012.
  21. ↑ "EDC Magazine". Retrieved 7 Nov 2012.
  22. ↑ "Architecture Week: Aga Khan Award Finalists". Retrieved 8 Nov 2012.
  23. ↑
  24. ↑

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.