The ISF Horticultural Program aims to enable students to learn essential horticultural skills in a non-classroom based environment, engage with nature and develop a passion for the environment, and learn about collaboration, responsibility, empathy, compassion, and resilience.
A central component of the program is the Organic Rooftop Gardens, which provide students with the opportunity to grow, care for, and harvest a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. Students will gain hands-on experience in crop growth, harvesting, and understanding environmental factors such as weather patterns and composting.
The program operates within the curriculum of the Pre-School and Academy and plays a vital role in developing the whole child. It creates real-life experiences that directly align with what students learn in their lessons. It also fosters the development of social skills, a sense of community, responsibility, patience, and resilience. Students will enhance their sensory skills through activities such as touching soil, feeling plant textures, and smelling flowers, while also improving hand-eye coordination.
Being in nature has a positive impact on students’ mood, reducing stress and promoting a sense of calmness in the mind and body. The program also teaches students about the interplay of cause and effect and how our actions as humans affect the environment.
Horticultural Program Management involves close collaboration with staff and students across all three schools to design and implement age-appropriate programs that support student learning and development. This includes providing advisory and consultative support to individuals and facilitating tailored sessions for various classes and projects like mindfulness activities, MYP Personal Projects, DP Extended Essays, Shuyuan-based projects, service learning in Primary and Secondary, faculty master teacher projects, and support for Hao Xue and Shuyuan Green Guardians.
