School’s out for Summer!

Mahnaz’s reflections

The end of Grade 7 at The Green school (Year 8 – UK)

Where has the time gone??!!

We have been in Bali for 5 1/2 months and yesterday the holidays started.

The weather has been cooler over the past few weeks – not as humid as it has been, and actually the perfect island weather. A warm sun and a cool sea breeze – I can see how the Summer period is a huge pull for travellers.

Anisa has made it through 2 terms, with some challenges. Despite these she is keen to stay for the year, so we will.

Yesterday was a bittersweet day. We have met some wonderful families from Brazil (Priscilla, Ferdi and family), Turkey (Ozge and her 2 children), England (Charisse), the US (Krishna & family), Canada (Mari, Jo and family – who are originally from the UK), Switzerland (Anke and Noah, Sybil and family), Spain and Portugal (Maria, Dan and their 3 beautiful boys) – amongst others. All of who have come to the end of their planned year or have decided to leave for other reasons. I have got to know these wonderful mothers and will miss them all dearly, and intend to stay in touch.

We are saddened that Yas, Tim and Deeks have decided to leave too. The school’s leadership has let them, and others down. It has had an impact on us all. A new campus leader starts in August and I am hopeful that he will be able to put measures in place which will allow for issues to be directly dealt with in a timely manner – with the relevant parties. I keep being told Bali will force you to see the shadows and you have no choice but to deal with it. The school will have to do the same, otherwise they will continue to lose families and a commitment to a different kind of education. I keep being reminded that no school or institution is perfect and neither are we.

I am grateful that there are some lovely families who will continue to stay on. Astrid, Siobhan, Amita, Lixi, Lee Ann (who is a bit of a dark horse and has the most incredible blues voice!), Fran, Penny, Tasha, and June amongst others … and not forgetting Audrey, of course.

Footprints, Quests & Green Stones. The Green School highlight.

Adults sit down. Let our young people take over.

The last 2 weeks of school have been about the presentations by the students at 3 different stages of development.

Footprints (grade 5) : 10-11 year olds. Working on a project for 2 terms, creating a “solution” and presenting the project to the school’s community.

Quests (grade 8) : 13-14 year olds. Working on a project for one year, creating a “solution” and presenting the project for 10 minutes to the schools community.

Green Stones (grade 12) : 17-18 year olds. Working on a project for 2 years, creating a “solution” and presenting the project for 20 minutes to the school’s community.

I had been advised by numerous parents to attend these presentations as no matter what happens at the school, this is what the school was about: the children and their impact at various stages of their development. They weren’t wrong. I was blown away by what they had created – particularly the Green Stones. There was not a dry eye in the house as most of them shared some deeply meaningful personal stories, with complete vulnerability. When the videos are due to come out on youtube it’s worth a watch, although it’s not the same as being there in person.

This is the transcript of the speech given by Cynthia Hardy – which encapsulates the incredible work done by the Graduates.

“You’ve taught orphans to design jewellery.
You’ve helped build bridges between conservation and community, between Bali and the birds that call at home.
You’ve faced personal tragedies and transformed them into something that could literally save lives.
You’ve designed electric turbines for the rice fields.
You’ve filtered water with mushrooms.
You’ve danced in topang, not to perform, but to remember.
You’ve stitched metaphors into fabric to understand your own mind, and then help others understand theirs.
You’ve embroidered stories into stars from inside prism walls, reminding us that even where freedom is limited, creativity and care instill flow freely.
You’ve told stories of refugees, of women in prison, of entire villages, stories that may otherwise. have been silenced.
You’ve created songs not just to be heard, but to be tested as tools for healing.
You’ve turned neglected spaces into creative worlds.
You’ve built immersive games, surreal landscapes, and tangible pathways for learning.
You’ve promoted nature-based play, taught art to kids who might never have picked up a brush and brought mindfulness into students. as a buzzword, but as a practice.
You’ve created spaces for mindfulness, places to pause, breathe, and remember that even stillness is a form of leadership.
And you’ve done all this, not by following someone else’s formula, but by listening deeply, observing closely, and acting with purpose.
You are the first generation, not asking, What do I want to be?
but instead asking, “What does the world need from me?”
That’s a radical question, and asking it again and again, even when it’s inconvenient, may be your greatest contribution.
So as you step forward from this jungle classroom into a wider world, I hope you take the same tools you use here.
Not just your band or guitars, hydro turbines, or lab journals, by your willingness to stay curious. to keep creating and to remain kind, even when the world isn’t.
Green school didn’t prepare you for a test.
It prepared you for a planet, what that means you’re care, your wild ideas in your grounding action.
And graduates, it’s working.
You are proof that education can grow something truly alive.
Congratulations class of 2025!
Now go, not to change the world, but to belong to it, bravely.”

Community

I was honoured to run The Somatic Journey twice in the school’s main hall – the Sankep.

Our last Writers Club meeting. I will miss those leaving and we will stay in touch.

Our final “Creating Sanctuary” meeting. A space led by Bayo Akomolafe’s work – Mari is just brilliant and will be so missed, along with Pricilla and Charisse.

A gathering of peacemakers who want to keep our community in Sibang GREEN.

Our wonderful Siobhan had the idea of creating a local Sibang Walk for parents to view local properties which are consciously built to fit into the local landscape with little environmental impact. Incredible, beautiful homes were visited and it was such an honour to be welcomed. This will now be used as a walk for new families joining the school to show them what options they have when staying locally, or thinking of building.

I organised a mum’s goodbye dinner at Kul kul farm, an organic permaculture space where the Bamboo U course is run. All the “live” food comes from the garden. We were also invited to hear John Hardy, the founder of the Green School, speak about his Bamboo projects.

A community street party organised by Abdoul and Emilie to bring the Balinese locals and the bule together.

An end-of-term community event organised by Fredy at his home. Providing entertainment, a place for goods exchange for people who have things to give away, and an art mural wall for the community to contribute to.

Another beautiful Palestinian Fundraiser with this incredible woman. I will miss you Yas xxx

The opening of the Green Village Swimming Pool which is open to the community to use at a cost.

Exploring Bali

Siobhan shared with me an art course which was being run on Jim Bendell’s farm and we agreed to attend together. It was such an incredible experience with a group of people exploring creativity. The host is an artist who uses plastic waste and turns them into mobiles which hang throughout the farm.

We visited Amed on the North/East coast of Bali for a day of snorkelling. I wasn’t able to take my phone with me so have no photos while snorkelling but it was stunning. We saw lots of blue starfish, “Nemos” and a huge Turtle.

Ozge asked us to visit Sidemen with her, a beautiful and quiet town up in the mountains that provides some of the most stunning views of rice fields on the island. We went to a silversmiths to make some jewellery too.

Visiting a temple in the sea at Tanah Lot after Anisa’s surfing class.

Other stuff :

Reflections : Growth

I have long used this word around our development as a human species. Recently I’ve noticed how over used this word is used in politics, economics, finance and business, and I have reflected on the growth of NoorWorks and my own too (a conscious 22 year journey).

But I am wondering more and more, where does it stop? Yes we are life long learners, but has our natural ability to learn been highjacked by a global education learning machine to produce more workers and less people who trust their own wisdom and intuition? We all have it – but it is layered with so much “knowledge” through conventional education. It thrives on competition, comparison and being “better” than another. Achivement, letters after your name, recognition by the system in the system. Hierarchy. The same seems to be happening in the personal development world too. But do we need it in our world today?

What if there is someone in the world who has the aptitude to cure cancer, but we don’t know it? Outside of a science lab and in nature. What if there was someone in the world who had a natural ability to stop conflict and war – but they are unknown because they are not part of the system which benefits from it? How do we know? How do we wrap people with a stable, safe creative environment so that exploration can take place? One which is affordable and promotes equity and where the focus is purely on exploration of the one thing individuals are drawn to? What if it doesn’t have to happen in one particular language?

We have a conscious parenting group here at the school which I joined to meet those in my community and contribute where I can. It is a facilitated group which feeds into workshops. The focus seems to be “growth”. What if this growth is just another neo-colonial way of getting people to experience temporary pleasure through connection and a temporary “knowing”? Filled with advice on what you need to do to succeed in the structures which the world has today – which is always temporary and will inevitably change and probably sooner than we think. What if education today is about allowing students to trust their wisdom and intuition to seek new answers and ways of living and being. What if they already have the tools it takes for this to happen and simply need time and a safe space? What if it was that easy?

Anisa’s bit

I much prefer Green School over Highams Park. There. I said it. Highams Park compared to Green School is like going to a juvy for school. However on the other hand I really miss the UK. I reeaallyy miss Tescos especially – they have the best strawberries raspberries and mini cucumbers. The end of this term was hard for some as many were leaving. For example, one kid in my class is leaving to live in Japan forever, just as another kid who is moving to the US forever. People are also extremely nervous about the upcoming Quest too since it is the biggest project of the year and we must start working on it as soon as we get back to school. I got everyone to sign my iPad case because A) its small and B) i could get some of the signatures of those who left so when i leave they won’t be missing, as well as the 8th graders moving into high school. It was pretty sad yet exciting and i am super excited for next year.

We watched Eurovision which absolutely SUCKED for a reason I won’t share here. However there was one song which was really funny and the dance was…..something hilarious! The song was called Espresso Macchiato by Estonia and it came 3rd which was really good.

Also recently we have had the little kitten we have named Pandora come in the garden again and now she has even started to come in the house although she is still petrified of us, but honestly who knows what she’s been through to be in the state she is. She has a super limp maybe broken back leg which she drags, as well as a tail which she drags behind her. She looks really poorly and we are trying to look out for her and feed her.

Another thing is that we may have gotten a cute little puppy from this man whose dog had just had puppies, but unfortunately she has been run over by a car which was agonisingly upsetting.

Finishing school was actually fun for the last few days as we had to make a group dance in assembly (i wasn’t in it, i decided to record it). We also just mostly talked and played games in lessons. In our second last lesson in literacy we did a class debate which was super fun. The motion was something about living on Mars being essential and my team and i were on the negative team. We won and i was awarded the star speaker on the team. I am really getting into debating now and may even go to the World Scholars Cup globals with my friend since our team qualified last time.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER AND PLEASE VISIT US IN BALI!!!!

Suleiman’s Part

Not much from me this time, partly as I have been focusing very heavily on work to the point where I had a bit of a meltdown as I was juggling too many different balls. Fortunately things are much better now and important lessons have been learned about not being too accommodating at the expense of my own work priorities.

One source of joy is that I have joined the local gym. It’s a bit of a spit-and-sawdust place, but very cheap (300,000 IDR p/m which is basically £15). Lots of equipment, and whilst the morning is very busy, lunchtime and early afternoon – the hottest part of the day – means it is deserted. I have gone back to doing Couch to 5K on the treadmill, starting at Week 5 of 9, and it feels simply wonderful to be able to actually run. As mentioned in previous blogs, we barely walk more than 2000 steps each day unless we’re exploring, and I never have the opportunity to run, so this feels like a blessing. It’s tough in the heat – the running machines are by the open door and the air-con is a bit ropey – so the sweat is literally pouring off me (in a rather gross way!) after barely 10 minutes of running.

I have been going to the gym 5 lunchtimes a week for the past three weeks. Throw in the fact I am also doing weights again after 6 months rest has cured my tennis elbow and rotator cuff injuries, and I am doing squats and even yoga planks at home, and I feel physically so much better than I did even a month ago.

Apart from the odd very unexpected bout of rain, the weather here is just perfect. I know it’s hotter in the UK at the moment (32c v 30c), but despite my love of the sun I find London unbearable when the temperature is that high. Here we have breeze, lots of shade, fans at home and air-con in shops and restaurants. The humidity is less than it was in rainy season so we are much less sweaty on a day-to-day basis.

I am saving my annual leave for foreign adventures later in the year, so we will be around in Bali in the summer. We plan to explore Bali, the neighbouring islands, and even the Indonesian mainland (which we haven’t even seen yet).

So if you fancy popping over … (hint hint)

Date : 20th June 2025