Building a culture of sustainability at FIS
FIS is already recognized publicly as a leading school in the area of sustainability. This theme is at the heart of our strategy [LINK], as one of the three cultural levers to support the completion of all other objectives. In addition, our objective 4.2 reads: “Lead, model, and focus our community efforts in helping achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.
FIS is a founding member of the Alliance of Sustainable Schools (TASS) [LINK: https://tass-asia.org/tass-member-schools/]. Just in 2024, two key community events crowned our commitment to this objective: our Family Sustainability Fun Fair in January, and the international Sustainable Development Film Festival in May. Our students regularly engage in activities that relate to sustainability, such as the Climate Fresque and our holistic garden project.
Nonetheless, we should not become complacent, and the school just took a momentous step in retaining the services of Metanoia [LINK: https://metanoia-eco.com/] to drive a year-long, schoolwide sustainability audit of our school. We chose Metanoia because their approach to an audit is educative and participatory in essence: their role is to lead our students in multiple activities that will help establish our current status and develop concrete goals for the coming years in areas such as curriculum, buildings, water and energy consumption, travel, community engagement, etc.
Metanoia has already worked with a number of reputable schools in Hong Kong and in the Middle East and I have had reference conversations with multiple Heads of School who have praised the company and its process. The topic of our upcoming June Conseil Victor Segalen (CVS, school council) will be focused on the sustainability audit. You will learn more about this audit and how to participate during a launch event in the fall. Stay tuned for more information early in 2024-2025!
I want to thank the Sustainability Committee of FISCA, led by our parent volunteers, that initially presented me with the idea of an audit. They contributed greatly, with the school’s Sustainable Development Education Committee, to the tender process that led to the selection of Metanoia. This entire outcome is a true reflection of the power of engaging our entire Diverse and Engaged community. #CultureOfSustainability #ProudToBeFIS!
