We are international to our core. Ours is a school where no single nationality dominates our students or staff, and all cultures are respected and recognised equally. We celebrate our diversity throughout the year with whole-school events such as Francophone Week, Tet, and Mid-Autumn Festival, and smaller teacher-led events that raise student awareness of the global diversity within their own class groups.
Green Shoots’ youngest students enjoy play, exploration, creativity and collaboration in an environment that encourages problem solving, communication and a love of learning. In Primary Years, enquiry and discovery are key as students begin to unlock their academic potential across a wide range of subjects in a safe, stimulating, and values-driven environment. In our secondary school, at this vital stage of adolescence, significant focus is given to the development of values, empathy, creativity, and critical thinking.
Established in Hoi An in 2011, Green Shoots was the second school in central Vietnam to offer an overseas education and the first to provide a truly international learning experience. We continue to innovate and grow, responding to the changing needs of our community and investing in the people and resources needed to guarantee a world-class education in our peaceful UNESCO Heritage town by the beach. Who says you can’t have it all?
As the saying goes, ‘the proof is in the pudding’. After ten years of educating children in Hoi An and Danang, we have proudly seen our graduates move on to exceptional IB Diploma schools around the world, often with scholarships recognising their achievements at Green Shoots, and from there some have now graduated to world-class universities, where our first cohort of graduates are now nearing graduation and entry into the adult world.
The educational standards set by the British system are globally recognised and respected. The Independent Schools Council, a global research body, estimates that around almost half of all English-language international schools offer a British education for this reason. Green Shoots is an accredited member of Cambridge Assessment International Exams and a registered Cambridge Exam Centre able to administer IGCSE and Checkpoint secondary exams and promising the highest teaching standards. We are one of only two schools in Vietnam to have been accepted into the Council of British International Schools, which assures parents around the world that British academic and pastoral standards are being upheld.
Schools that have been accredited by external agencies provide assurance that parents can trust that school with their child’s education. In 2019 we earned membership of the Council of International Schools, a global leader in international school accreditation, achieving a new level of global recognition for our community. The only CIS member in central Vietnam and one of 26 in the country, we have joined one of the world’s most prestigious groups of international schools. Our CIS membership tells families that Green Shoots has been tested against a rigorous set of standards in areas ranging from governance to safeguarding.
Green Shoots recruits from around the world to ensure the highest standards of teaching and welfare in every classroom. All of our teachers are fully qualified professionals, many with post-graduate and specialist training as well as experience in other international schools. We apply stringent safeguarding tests before bringing a new teacher into our team, and work hard to ensure that all teachers share our values. Green Shoots’ leadership team draws on decades of international experience to ensure continuity of care from our playgroup to our graduating class.
Our values develop during childhood and adolescence and inform our thoughts, words, and deeds. This is why Green Shoots places such emphasis on helping students form the strong moral compass that will guide them for the rest of their life. Children are taught to respect themselves, other people, and our world, and are given the tools they need to live this life-affirming value every day. Throughout our school year, time is allocated to explore each of the seven other values that underpin respect.
At Green Shoots we know that people are at their best when valued and respected and we work hard to ensure that everyone knows they matter and that their voice is heard. It begins as soon as a family joins us, through our system of mutual support that nurtures newcomers, continues within the school, as older children support younger ones, and moves beyond our walls into the community where, through read-a-thons, sporting challenges, and other activities, we raise money for local charities.
The values we develop as children will guide our choices and actions throughout our lives