Nexus International School Malaysia has always been committed to educating and empowering our learners to become internationally-minded individuals – the next generation of global citizens. To do this, we follow the Nexus Way, our school’s philosophy consisting of four elements that form the bedrock of our education philosophy: Relationships, Inclusion, Innovation, and Mindsets.
A Whole School Approach to Sustainability
As sustainability became a prevalent topic in the education space, we began to explore methods to educate learners and encourage them to take an active role in championing sustainability in their lives. We took a whole-school approach and involved all our learners, from Early Years to Year 13.
Our Global Goals Day was introduced in response to the launch of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. We wanted to provide an opportunity for our learners to embrace global citizenship through the lens of the SDGs, establish community partnerships, and become changemakers for a better world.
On Global Goals Day, all learners stop regular classes and follow a bespoke SDG timetable. The timetable includes activities, talks, and workshops led by our own in-house departments as well as external community partners. Bespoke sessions from previous years include solar vehicle making, author readings about inclusive family groups and refugee awareness, keyring creation from plastic bags, and biodiversity presentations.
Source: Nexus International School Malaysia
We plan to continue the Global Goals Day until 2030 – the UN’s deadline for the SDGs. We will then conduct a review in line with the UN’s findings to assess what changes and progress is needed, and how we can address this in our school.
“We wanted to provide an opportunity for our learners to embrace global citizenship through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals, establish community partnerships, and become changemakers for a better world.”
Measuring Impact
As we have led this initiative for many years, the impact of Global Goals Day has become ingrained in the culture of the Nexus Community. Learners have taken ideas learned from Global Goals Day workshops and implemented them through independent, learner-led Co-curricular Activities. For instance, learners run the Eco Club, an enterprise group which organises upcycling projects and weekly paper collections for recycling. Learners also continue to volunteer with our partner organisations outside of school time, as well as organising fundraising events for charitable causes. This widens opportunities for learners to engage in SDG-related activities throughout the year.
The impact on our learners does not end at graduation. We take pride in the fact that some of our alumni have pursued careers in the environmental and humanitarian sectors, working with organisations such as the WWF and the United Nations. Several of our alumni have also been invited to present and perform at environmental conferences, summits, and forums both in Malaysia and on the international stage.
Implementing Sustainability using a Zero Cost Concept
We appreciate that not all schools are offered budgets for sustainability education. Like starting a business with zero capital, we wanted our learners to explore creative avenues to kickstart sustainability efforts in our school with materials that they could source from home or the local community. Learners organised collection drives for project materials, such as unwanted clothing, plastic bottles, single use plastics, bottle lids, electronic waste, food containers, and toys. These were then sorted, used for projects in school, or donated to local charitable organisations and underprivileged groups.
Source: Nexus International School Malaysia
In addition, to reduce plastic waste, a community collection bin was placed outside the school gate. The thrown-away items were predominantly plastic bottles and lids, which were then upcycled into jewellery, keyrings, eco-bricks, and self-watering systems for plants. The jewellery and keyrings were sold to the community to raise funds for charities, the eco-bricks were used to build garden beds in the local community, and learners took home their plant systems to share the idea with friends and relatives.
Adopting a community partnership approach, we connected with several local NGOs who were keen on visiting our school to provide talks and roadshows, free of charge. We also offered local authors a platform to do book readings and workshops with our learners.
Lastly, we organised learning opportunities outside the classroom. For our secondary learners, this included service trips with local NGOs; volunteering with a soup kitchen; building a community vegetable garden with an Orang Asli (native) community group; and collaborating with a toy library to collect, fix and distribute preloved toys to underprivileged community groups. For our primary learners, we organised nature-based activities in the school. This included decorating rocks with SDG art themes and undertaking a BioBlitz – identifying plants and observing insects.
Key Tips for Implementing Sustainable Practices in Your School at Little to No Cost
- Collect paper, clothing, and plastic waste to donate or upcycle into sustainability products.
- Host a sustainability fair and collaborate with NGOs who offer a percentage of sales to learners for selling their sustainability items.
- Encourage learner–led co-curricular activities and young enterprise clubs to fundraise for good causes.
- Enable learning outside of the classroom with service trips and nature-based activities in school gardens and local areas.
- Partner with local organisations and universities who offer free educational talks, workshops, and roadshows.
- Invite local authors to offer book readings and workshops.
By Madeleine Proud
Madeleine Proud is the Director of Global Citizenship at Nexus International School Malaysia. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.
