Green Shoots International School

Our school is young but developing rapidly; conceived and created by Catherine and Sue, they detail the origins of the school on other pages on the site. The entity which is now Green Shoots International School coalesced around them and their unshakable resolve to provide an educational experience of the highest possible academic standards, rooted in values that would equip students to thrive personally, and contribute meaningfully, to whichever aspect of our global society they chose to join.

Since its inception, the school has acted as a magnet to attract parents and professional educators from around the world who are looking for such a holistic, learning community as this. Our challenge and ambition now is to accommodate the many others who wish to join us. In the medium-term, this will translate into new educational facilities being built, new organizational systems being introduced, our community growing and our original buildings being re-purposed once again.

We are sure to change and mature over the coming years, as that is the nature of all living things. It is our intention, however, to maintain the school’s core values so students’ academic progress and developing sense of social responsibility, is coupled with organizational growth that is ‘sustainable’ in the widest possible meaning of the word.

Green Shoots was established by Catherine McKinley, a self-confessed ‘education junky’ who sought something new and different for her children.
Born and raised in rural Oxfordshire, she moved to Singapore at the age of 13. There, her eyes were opened to life in a very different part of the world and education in a very different environment from the one she had left behind. Through middle and high school, she attended the United World College of Southeast Asia where the philosophy of educational thinker Kurt Hahn was deeply engraved upon the curriculum. Hahn’s assumption that ‘there is more in you than you think’ has inspired her ever since, pushing her to test her limits, try new experiences, and question assumed boundaries.

She moved to Vietnam in 1999 and lived for 11 years in Hanoi. It was here that she married and became the mother of two wonderful children. But as the city’s living costs rose and pollution levels climbed she looked for other ways to live and work in the country that had become her home. In 2010 she and her family moved to Hoi An.

Green Shoots was born little more than a year later. The school has grown from a kindergarten of just a dozen children to a full kindergarten, primary and secondary school educating over 100 students from over 20 countries. Its philosophical foundation remains true to the ideas of Kurt Hanh and the movements he founded and inspired.

Each member of our community is a member of the Green Shoots family, cared for and nurtured as an individual but also reminded of his or her role in ensuring the sustainable future of the greater whole. Our healthy menu, child-centred pedagogy, and focus on sustainable education all stem from Catherine’s desire to raise her own children to become active, mature and responsible members of a global society.

Green Shoots students are passionate, independent, lifelong learners who strive for personal best and are responsible global citizens. Ours is an inspirational learning community that fosters happy, mindful and creative thinkers committed to the sustainable development of our world.

Creating a school from scratch is a challenging undertaking and at Green Shoots we are incredibly proud of our staff and the effort and energy they give to the important job of educating your child.

All of our international teachers hold a graduate or post-graduate degree in teaching. Many also hold specialisations such as reading support, special education needs, and EAL teaching qualifications. Our Vietnamese teachers and teaching assistants hold either a Vietnamese teaching qualification or have undergone internal professional development to ensure they understand and support our ethos, values and standards.

Green Shoots gained Vietnamese government approval to offer kindergarten services in Hoi An in 2011 and primary and secondary services from 2012. Since our launch, we have worked hard to integrate into the international education community, providing links with other schools for our students, assurance of academic quality for our parents, and access to a wide-reaching community of peers for our staff.

We are a member of the Council of British International Schools, which upholds standards among British-curriculum schools overseas, and in 2016 were accredited by Cambridge International Exams, the body that administers our secondary programme and is recognised as the world’s most popular international qualification for 14 to 16 year olds.

Green Shoots is also developing links with Round Square, a group of like-minded schools around the world that develop in their students a shared sense of global outlook, service, and environmental stewardship.

Thanks to our founder’s links with the school, Green Shoots enjoys strong support from the United World College of Southeast Asia (UWCSEA), a school of almost 6,000 students with a 45-year history of educating expatriates in Singapore. As a young school, we look to more established like-minded schools for guidance in order to ensure that our services meet the expectations expressed by members of our community, and with this in mind UWCSEA generously offers support in areas such as curriculum development, school management, and staff training.

Our Vision
Green Shoots students are passionate, independent, lifelong learners who strive for their personal best and are responsible global citizens. Ours is an inspirational learning community that fosters happy, mindful and creative thinkers committed to the sustainable development of our world.