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The school has no walls, no air conditioning, no concrete, the classrooms are open to the forest and the tropical breeze enters freely while students study sitting in bamboo chairs
The first thing you notice upon arriving at the Green School is that there is no door. No wall. No entrance gate with a guardhouse. The classrooms are bamboo pavilions with thatched roofs, open on the sides. When it rains, water runs off the edges. When it’s sunny, the shade of the bamboo cools.
The students hear birds during math class. They see dragonflies in science class. It seems like utopia. But it is a real school, with 400 students from 30 countries, operating since 2008. It is located in Sibang Kaja, 20 minutes from Ubud, in the green heart of Bali.
The family that left New York to build a school in the jungle
John Hardy was a successful jeweler with a workshop in Bali and an office in New York.
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Scientists have created a paint so white that it reflects 98.1% of sunlight and cools any building by up to 4.5 degrees below the ambient temperature without using air conditioning; it has entered the Guinness World Records as the whitest in the world.
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Inside Singapore’s airport, there is a 40-meter tall waterfall surrounded by 2,000 trees, 5 floors of gardens, and the largest indoor plant collection in the world, all under a glass and steel roof.
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Lula’s Brazil considers using the Reciprocity Law against the U.S. after the expulsion of a Brazilian delegate who had been working for over 2 years on an ICE mission amid diplomatic tensions.
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At an altitude of 2,093 meters, the road that crosses the Atlas Mountains was carved between 1926 and 1932, has 90% of its route in a single lane, zigzag curves without guardrails, and cliffs of hundreds of meters.
In 2006, he and his wife Cynthia watched the documentary An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore.
The film about climate change deeply moved them.
The two decided they needed to do something radical.
They sold the jewelry business and invested everything in creating a school that taught sustainability in practice, not in theory.
In 2008, the Green School opened its doors—or rather, opened its pavilions, since it has no doors.
The Heart of School: a bamboo cathedral
The most impressive structure on campus is the Heart of School.
It is a three-story spiral pavilion, entirely made of bamboo, without a single nail or metal screw.
The structure was designed by Elora Hardy, John’s daughter, who founded the architecture firm IBUKU.
It is considered one of the largest and most complex bamboo structures in the world.
The spiral shape creates natural ventilation: warm air rises through the center and fresh air enters from the sides.
No fans. No air conditioning. Just physics and bamboo.
Different curriculum: students build, plant, and solve real problems
At Green School, students do not sit listening to teachers all day long.
They build gardens, learn to compost, create recycling projects, and propose solutions to real environmental problems.
A group of teenage girls created a campaign that resulted in the ban on plastic bags in Bali.
The Balinese government approved the law in 2019, and it all started with a school project.
The school follows the International Baccalaureate, so the diplomas are recognized worldwide.
Alumni have been accepted into universities such as Stanford, MIT, and Oxford.
How much does it cost to study there
Green School is not a public school.
The tuition ranges from US$ 10,000 to US$ 20,000, depending on the grade.
It is expensive by Indonesian standards, but competitive for expatriate families paying for international schools.
There is a scholarship program for local Balinese students, ensuring diversity in the classroom.
Families come from all over the world: Australia, Japan, Europe, the Americas. Many move to Bali specifically because of the school.
The UN award and global expansion
In 2012, Green School received the UN award for the greenest school in the world.
After Bali, the brand opened campuses in New Zealand, South Africa, and Mexico.
Each campus is built with local materials and adapted to the region’s climate.
But the bamboo and the philosophy are the same.
The question John Hardy asked in 2006, how to educate for a sustainable world, turned into a global network of schools.
The criticisms the school receives
Not everyone is a fan of Green School.
Critics point out that the high tuition contradicts the accessibility discourse.
Others say that the open structure is impractical in cold or rainy climates.
And some question whether a school without walls prepares students for the real world, which is full of walls.
But the results speak: engaged students, projects with real impact, and a generation that grew up believing that caring for the planet is part of education, not an extra subject.
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