GGIS at a Glance

The Targets of Green Gems International School are to nurture humanity through value education.

The elements of Values Education are:
-Ensuring that the school’s institutional values are consistent with the values that pupils are encouraged to develop.
-The active promotion of a whole school policy that has the support of all the staff and is led and monitored by the School head.
-A programme of school assemblies that introduce and explore a value each month. Pupils are encouraged to be actively involved in exploring their understanding of values.
-Direct teaching about values in the classroom. These sessions provide opportunities for personal reflection, moral discourse and appropriate activities which promote understanding.

Teaching and Learning about Values takes place in the following ways:
-By teachers explaining the meaning of the value.
-By pupils reflecting on the value and what it means to them and their own behavior. -By pupils using the value to guide their own actions.
-By staff modelling the value through their own behavior.
-By ensuring that values are taught implicitly through every aspect of the curriculum.
-By involving all staff, governors and parents in the values programme through newsletters which explain how school and home can work together to promote positive values.

In order for the school’s purpose to be effective and for the values to be meaningful to the pupils, the staff understands that the basic needs of children are:
-To be loved.
-To feel secure and know clearly what is expected of them.
-To be valued.
-To have a balance of activities – active/passive; quiet/talking; communicating/reflective; taught skills/exploratory work.
-To have help to develop relationships.
-To develop self-awareness and a knowledge of the world outside of themselves.
-To have creative experiences, including external exploration and internal reflection.
-To be fully involved in the process of education.

In order to try to meet the needs of children, staff tries always to be consistent in their own behavior and in their expectations of the children. They:
-Value all the children.
-Display great patience and listen carefully to children.
-Focus on and emphasis the positive.
-Face reality and help pupils to come to terms with difficult issues as they arise, such as death.
-Only disapprove of poor behavior, never the child.
-Try to make time for one another.
-Are mutually supportive.
-Speak quietly and avoid shouting.
-Are valued by the country and the community.
-Have a good sense of humor.
-Communicate with parents to ensure that they appreciate the school’s values and to ensure that there is a common understanding.

Throughout the school the development of the following skills which contribute to reflective thinking about values are encouraged:
-Displaying helpful politeness and good manners to everyone in school.
-Speaking quietly and politely to others.
-Listening carefully to and thinking about what others are saying.
-Reflection.
-Empathy and tolerance.
-Using imagination.
-Visualization techniques.
-Stillness.
Throughout the school the development of the following skills which contribute to reflective thinking about values are encouraged:
-Articulating thoughts clearly in order to enhance communication skills.
-Walking quietly about the school building.
-Developing positive attitudes to work and play.
-Accepting personal responsibility for actions.
-Care and respect of other people’s property.