Written by Andrew Paterson

The mission of the SIS Group of Schools in Indonesia and South Asia is to spark curiosity and inquiry while developing values and 21st century skills. We prioritise learners and personalise learning to make a better world.

Some parents gloss over the “make a better world” part, thinking that this aspect of our mission will not benefit their own children. Nothing could be further from the truth! Our  children will inherit an uncertain world. The drums of war beat, talk of possible recession or depression is never off the table for long, authoritarianism and populism are growing sentiments while the global balance of power is shifting. The full impact of climate change and emerging artificial intelligence technologies will only be completely known after the leaders of today have long passed on.

Do we want our children to enter their working lives having been taught to deeply understand the challenges the world is facing and to have experienced first hand what some of the solutions may look like? Will your children and grandchildren benefit from a world led by themselves and others who have imbibed a sustainable development mindset to guide their personal and professional actions and innovative drives? What will stop the next generation making the same mistakes that our generation has made if a shift in mindset is not part of the intellectual inheritance we pass on now?

SIS Schools have decided to adopt 8 out of the 17 UNSDGs and every SIS student is being exposed to them throughout their schooling. The SIS group shows its strong commitment to ensure that we are doing our part to help make the world our children will inherit better for them and for their own children. This is not someone else’s responsibility – it is ours – and SIS students will be taking the lead. This commitment  includes our Green Gardens Preschool program, each school’s own goals for sustainable use of school resources and the learning that takes place every year in SIS Interdisciplinary Projects and off-site Learning Journeys. This learning might relate to such things as equal power for women, the elimination of poverty or the health of the world’s oceans.

During 2023/24, SIS Medan focused on  community wellbeing – increasing participation in their annual fun run by 33% while also finding a way to ban all plastics from their canteen. SIS Palembang increased its composting rate to 3kg per term and their 3 visits to orphanages were impactful on the wellbeing of both students and the residents. SIS South Jakarta was able to donate proceeds of a bazaar to a local organisation supporting children’s health while reducing their own paper usage by 18%. SIS Kelapa Gading North-East Jakarta was able to improve the wellbeing of its students this semester by increasing MS Fitness Test scores by 80% and they also converted 50kg of waste into amazing artwork.

SIS Myanmar are now monitoring the BMI of their students while their science students have focused on water quality analysis. SIS Semarang also did an orphanage visit, implemented a fitness program and had an innovative bicycle day at school. SIS Cilegon has implemented a healthy snacks policy in preschool as well as a regular morning workout for the wellbeing of its community.

In 2023/24, students from across the group will be taking part in a clean water program in a multiple day learning adventure. We believe that it is important for students to “give back” but it is also important to learn powerful lessons while doing so.