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Amazing Green School in Bali
Monday, September 13, 2010 at 12:43PM Amazing Green School in Bali
http://www.greenschool.org/
Green School in Bali, Indonesia is giving its students a relevant, holistic and green education in one of the most amazing environments on the planet.
We invite you to look around our site and find out more about our school, our campus and our mission – you can sign up to book a tour of the school, leave your feedback in the comments section of any article or blog post and learn how you can contribute to the school, Bali and our beautiful Earth.
Michael Doliveck
How they grew a green school
By Mike Southon
Published: September 13 2010 16:18 | Last updated: September 13 2010 16:18
For many of us, our memories of school days are of sitting in the gloomy classrooms of forbidding Victorian buildings, sweltering in the heat of oil-fired central heating.
We could not have dreamt of an ecologically balanced seat of learning, where there are no walls and the only light is the natural kind.
But nowadays there is such a place: Green School on the island of Bali.
It was founded in 2007 by Canadian-American entrepreneurs Cynthia and John Hardy who had initially built up, and later sold, a luxury jewellery business on the island. They wanted to establish a very different type of school – and I think what they have achieved is an excellent example of entrepreneurship and social enterprise.
You approach Green School down a long, bumpy lane, passing local rice fields and small businesses making roofing tiles. Its entrance is set in the middle of the tropical forest, and only its beehives give a clue as to its educational activities. Instantly striking is the architecture: large, sweeping, circular bamboo structures.
I was given a guided tour by Ben Macrory, head of admission and enrolment. He explains that – in spite of its unique environment – Green School is first and foremost an academic institution. It provides a full curriculum, currently up to the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (equivalent to the UK’s GCSEs), with plans to expand to teach students up to age 18.
As well as traditional classes, the students plant, grow and eat their own food. They learn all about recycling, too, as waste is used to feed the school’s animals and the output from their toilets is used as a natural fertilizer.
The school is also working towards disconnecting completely from the local electricity grid, generating its own power in several ways, including a simple but ingenious water vortex driven by the local river.
The children learn about conservation at first hand. Green School has its own aviary, which houses many Bali Starlings, a white bird with a striking blue mask. There are believed to be only 20 breeding pairs left in the wild.
Ajay Dalmia, general manager responsible for future strategy, told me that the school is now ready to grow significantly – from its current size of 180 full-time students to almost 300, including a full-time boarding facility for students aged 12 and above.
Most of the intake is from families who relocate to Bali to achieve a more meaningful lifestyle – as well as an environmentally aware schooling for their children.
Key to this balance is the school’s policy of ensuring that up to 20 per cent of the students are drawn from the local Balinese community. Their fees are funded by sponsors, whose names can be seen etched in bamboo in one of the largest school areas.
High-profile names that have given their support to Green School include Sir Richard Branson and Damien Hirst.
Green School even offers “green camps” where children from other schools can either visit the facility or have the experience in their own school.
Kathleen Hamilton, aged 15, attended the camp for a week and liked it so much that she transferred to Green School from a local international school.
Her words sum up the vision of Green School perfectly: “What would the world be like today if our parents had gone to a school like this?”
