Pedro and I have been in Bali for two days and there is so much to write about and so much that excites me, that it’s difficult to know where to begin. I think that our visit to The Green School yesterday is a pretty good starting point. I hope that you have a moment to watch this TED lecture – with the extraordinary John Hardy talking about how and why he decided to make his Green School here in Bali.

I have taken hundreds of photos of the Green School and here are just a few!  You can find out lots more by looking at The Green School Website which is at the bottom of the page.

After arriving at the school yesterday morning, we were greeted by Ben Macrory who had kindly agreed to give us a tour of the school. As we shook hands, said ‘hello’ and introduced ourselves, I noticed a huge butterfly hovering above us. For me, this summed up everything that the Green School is about.

‘A butterfly flaps it’s wings, and a tsunami happens on the other side of the world…’

In this instance I like to think that the butterfly I saw was a symbol for radical change the world over regarding educating us all, whether young or old. (I don’t normally get on my soap box but frankly it’s high time that we all stepped up to the mark. If you have aready, GREAT!, if you haven’t yet, get real!)

Our time spent during our five, day visit to Bali, is being split between work and play – a nice balance! We have come to Bali to visit some schools and to learn more about the culture and education system in Indonesia. Pedro is currently working on a big project in Jakarta setting up a brand new 21^st Century University. Much of his time is devoted in research and finding out exactly what is needed to help set this University up, and paramountly, set it apart from the rest in terms of education and excellence; – in other words, how to make it a world class University for Indonesian students to be proud of, and also attract students from all over the world to study in this wonderful country.

Green School

www.greenschool.org/

I hope that like Pedro and I, you will inspired. How wonderful if every school in the world was a Green School!

I love Robert Frost’s poetry, and I was delighted to see that the Green School have used one of his quotes on their website – “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”
Robert Frost