Community Service

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

One of BIS’ core values is to build character through a strong ethos towards service and action within the local community. On any given week you will find BIS students leading community projects and the impact of our student projects throughout the Bandung community.

A BIS student is a student who is not only knowledgeable about the world, but participates responsibly, successfully and with integrity in the global community. Service programmes support our mission by shaping students holistically as they build relationships with people from all different walks of life, respectfully working with them to build a better world for us all.

Service in Elementary

In the PYP, transdisciplinary Units of Inquiry are designed for students to explore relevant local and global challenges and opportunities. Students are encouraged to take action in response to their inquiries, which can be demonstrated in different ways, including:

• Social justice
• Advocacy
• Social entrepreneurship
• Participation
• Lifestyle choices

We strive to create a learning experience and environment that stimulates student-initiated action that authentically reflects the passions, abilities, and interests of our differing year levels.

Service in the Middle Years

Our kids now need an education that is far more connected and real than in the past – an education that gives them not only knowledge, but also provides them with empowerment and agency. They need an education whose ends are not just to improve themselves, but to rather to improve the world they live in.

Mark Prensky, Education to Better Their World

• Service helps students to be Caring, Principled, and to Communicate with those from different backgrounds and think about strategies to best work with others. It is essential that service is meaningful both for our students and for those they are working with. Teachers help students to think about the impact of their actions before engaging in service activities or projects.
• We believe that students truly become global citizens by becoming engaged in serving their school and the wider community.

In the Middle Years, students build on the action component in the PYP by engaging in a variety of activities serving both the BIS Community and the community around us. Students then choose one charity or group that they will focus on over a prolonged period of time, fostering deeper understanding of social and development issues.

Service activities are also integrated into the curriculum wherever possible, as we believe in the importance of making connections to create a better world for our students and those around us.

Service in the DP

CAS enables students to enhance their personal and interpersonal development through experiential learning. Experiential learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience; learning involves much more than just the activity itself: planning, acting, observing and reflecting are all crucial in making the experience as valuable as possible.

School Service

Through school service, students learn to care for others within the community. Students are involved in a variety of different projects: tutoring younger students, running games and activities, and working for an environmentally-friendly campus.

Local Service

Students are encouraged to take initiative to serve those around us. BIS students currently work with the Refugee Learning Nest, a school run by and for refugees in Bogor, visit several local orphanages and shelter for women and babies, and have been engaged in various environmental and animal welfare initiatives throughout the community.

Grade 7 Students visited Rumah Tumbuh Harapan, a shelter for young mothers and babies just around the corner from BIS.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation brought their roadshow for Elementary and High School students, teaching us about the dangers Orangutans face and what we can do to help.

Our students taught kindergarten students on Sugi Island, Riau, about dental hygiene and handwashing – and had a lot of fun!

Over 20 charities visited our Community Service Fair to discuss volunteering opportunities with our students.

We have partnered with the Refugee Learning Nest since 2017, and love to visit, learn and play with these wonderful people.

Grade 3 students ran a business unit, donating all the proceeds to BARC, who work with stray dogs in Bali.

Secondary students travelled to Borneo and planted trees to preserve the Orangutans’ habitat.

Grade 12 students share their achievements to meet the IB Diploma Programme’s Creativity, Action and Service requirements, inspiring younger students to get involved!