Education with Sustainability at Its Core
In May 2025, Jo, Kim, Sheryl, Cody, Kiri, Kerry from Kerikeri Kindergarten and Kim, a Professional Practice Manager with the Northland Kindergarten Association [NKA] had opportunity to attend the Green Educators course at Green School Bali. Located in Sibang Kaja, Green School Bali is an international school focused on sustainability and hands-on learning. Founded in 2008, it hosts approximately 500 students from more than 30 countries, and the programme spans from Early Years through to Grade 12. About 5% of students are Balinese, supported through scholarship programs.
Curriculum and Educational Model
The school integrates traditional academics with a strong emphasis on regenerative design— an approach that reaches deeper than sustainability through curriculum designed to teach systems that restore and improve the environment. Learning is project-based, cross-disciplinary, and tied to real-world challenges and ecological thinking.
Campus and Facilities
The campus covers 20 acres of jungle, rice fields, and riverside land, the campus itself is considered a learning tool, including that all plants accessible to tamariki are edible. Buildings are constructed from bamboo and other renewable materials. Facilities include composting toilets, solar power, and a micro-hydro system. The edible gardens are used for both learning and food production. The school’s ‘footprint’ aims to tread lightly and greatly inspire.
Learning and Innovation
School students learn in practical environments like the edible gardens, carpentry and technology workrooms and a world first Mycelium Lab, where they explore sustainable food systems and biodegradable materials made from fungi. These programmes combine biology, systems thinking, and hands-on learning.
Early Years and Kindergarten
Green School’s Early Years is a three-year programme including Nursery, Preschool, and Kindergarten in the final year. Ratios are 5:1. With emphasis on individualised programmes and strong relationships. The kindergarten is an open-air bamboo structure that is shaped like a basket. Like Aotearoa, the programme is play-based; play spaces are simple and mostly up-cycled or repurposed. We observed that licensing and safety regulations are simpler than what we work with.
Training for Educators
The Green Educators Course welcomes kaiako from around the world to explore the Green School’s educational model in depth. We were part of a group of 35 and counted approximately 21 different nationalities. It was a special experience to be able to kōrero and reflect on practices from around the world, and affirming to know how well regarded Te Whāriki is internationally. We returned with a range of reflections and insights and HUGE gratitude to have had this amazing experience. Some highlights included:
- Experiencing the school’s bamboo architecture and wall-less classrooms, which emphasised sustainability and the well-being benefits of learning in nature.
- An awesome collaborative and dynamic team building opportunity.
- A fun and interactive learning session with Kenny Peavy on moving from biphobia to biophilia, reminding us how important adults are in influencing tamariki relationships with the natural world. We recommend following Kenny’s awesome FB site: The BOX People – Sustainable Solutions.
- Observing how some Balinese rituals and cultural practices are woven into the curriculum, enriching students global and local understanding.
- Connecting with international educators and discussing shared challenges and approaches to student-led, project-based learning—especially how these ideas translate to our work with tamariki.
- Gaining an honest view into the many complexities of creating and sustaining an alternative education model.
- Visiting the Early Years setting and gathering ideas we could include in our own spaces.
- Having a firsthand experience with a grumpy wild monkey.
- Learning about Balinese spices and participating in a garden to table experience.
- Staying in bunk-style accommodation in 28 degrees with no air conditioning, both a delight and challenge 😊
- Swimming in a stream-fed natural pool, surrounded by the Green Schools jungle’s sights and sounds.
From DELICIOUS plant-based meals to a strong sense of shared purpose, the Green Educators Course was both affirming and energising. This opportunity was generously provided through an NKA Innovation scholarship. This experience has reinforced our mahi and given us new ideas to strengthen the spaces we’re shaping back home.
Ngā mihi mahana.
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