Sustainable development

FIS is actively involved in sustainable development, and has been for several years now.

We have appointed a Sustainable Development Coordinator to the teaching staff, created a steering group that brings together different stakeholders in the school’s sustainable development journey, made adjustments to the school’s premises and implemented sustainable development teaching initiatives and activities. Ultimately, we want FIS to become a hub for sustainable development projects in the French community.

A school committed to protecting the environment

Inspired by the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we have chosen to develop these two themes: living together, healthily and sustainably; and protecting our environment and natural resources. To begin with, we will focus on seven SDGs:

Making adjustments to our campuses and being more
eco-friendly

Following a comprehensive carbon audit, we introduced changes to make our campuses more environmentally friendly, including:

  • installing LED bulbs on all campuses
  • installing UV protection window filters
  • increasing the proportion of local and organic food used in the canteen
  • installing collection boxes for secondhand uniforms, which are then sold by the NGO Mayaa
  • working with V-Cycle on various projects, including selling bags made of recycled materials and collecting PET bottles and other plastics, with the aim of collecting 10 tonnes of PET

In addition, reducing energy consumption was central to the design of the TKO campus, which opened in September 2018. The campus has been optimised to increase natural ventilation, reduce heat gain and minimise the need for air conditioning. Hundreds of ceramic sun breakers cover the campus facade, diffusing natural light and resulting in less reliance on artificial lighting.

A three-year food waste reduction scheme, the Pilot Programme on Provision of Small Food Waste Composters at School, initiated by the Hong Kong government, is also currently underway on all four of our campuses. The compost generated through this scheme is reused in our gardening activities.

Raising student awareness of environmental issues

FIS is a pioneer in teaching sustainable development. We organise a range of activities during the school year to raise student awareness about environmental issues. Activities include:

  • green or sustainable development classes
  • beach cleaning
  • collaboration with environmental NGOs
  • participation in the Ocean 3C symposium focused on ocean protection, along with local and international schools
  • training programme to become Climate Collage facilitators, enabling students to act as ambassadors, leading sessions and educating the general public and companies about the causes and consequences of climate change 
  • creation of a gardening club for primary and secondary students

In addition, our curricula include many modules or initiatives focusing on these sustainable development issues. For example:

  • multiple opportunities to learn about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in both the IEYC and IPC curricula
  • an introduction to gardening for primary students 
  • election and training of eco-delegates in secondary
  • partnership with Impaakt, an online platform which helps students understand companies’ sustainable development responsibilities
  • the optional IB course Environmental Systems and Societies for Y12 and Y13 students
  • workshops aiming to encourage students to sort their food waste
  • talks from relevant specialists

Initiatives by campus

Each campus has chosen to focus on a specific theme and is currently implementing an action plan to achieve their short and medium term goals. 

At Jardine’s Lookout, we are working on reducing waste, and aim to be zero waste within the next two years.

At Chai Wan, school support staff have chosen to teach staff and students about the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

At Tseung Kwan O, sustainable development projects are centred around the creation of holistic gardens

By interacting with these gardens, students learn to manage waste, composting and reusing organic matter, and to grow plants, including fruits, vegetables and aromatic plants. This work also helps enrich the campus biodiversity. 

A gardening club called the Green Club was also created to enable primary and secondary students to maintain the school’s green spaces in a more independent way. This is in addition to teacher-led gardening projects.

At Blue Pool Road, the teaching team chose to commit to climate action and raise awareness about equality and gender issues. 

Students take climate action by participating in The Climate Collage. This fun, collaborative workshop uses 42 cards based on the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to help raise awareness of climate disruption. In 2020-2021 over 100 people, students and teachers, took part in a Climate Collage workshop. Afterwards, some attendees were trained to become official facilitators, enabling them to organise and lead external workshops. Students have since held workshops in multinational companies in Hong Kong. In addition, BPR students write for The Environmental Journal and work on gender equality by writing for The Influential, a journal dedicated to women, which is published several times a year.

Contact

Martial Jaume

Sustainable Development Coordinator