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At the end of the school day at NIS, classrooms don't simply empty; they transform. Students gather in art rooms, head onto playing fields, tackle new challenges, and connect over shared interests. Older students mentor younger ones, new friendships form, and ideas explored during the school day take on new life.

This is CCA time at NIS, and with approximately 85% of students participating, it is a vibrant part of the student experience.

For Elementary students, Co-Curricular Activities offer a supportive place to explore. Across sports, the arts, academics, wellbeing, and more, students can try something new, discover an interest, and build confidence without the pressure of needing to already be good at it.

As students move into Secondary School, choice and ownership grow. Students independently select their activities, pursue interests more deeply, and increasingly take on leadership themselves. Many clubs are student-led, creating opportunities to turn an idea into action, guide peers, and contribute to the wider community.

With three rotations throughout the year, the program is intentionally dynamic. A student might discover a new creative outlet in one rotation, develop a practical skill in another, or find an interest that becomes a lasting passion.

Because at NIS, learning doesn't stop when classes finish. It continues wherever students have the opportunity to explore what interests them, connect with others, take a risk, and discover something new about what they can do.

Explore Co-Curricular Activities

Thirteen NIS students took their love of singing beyond campus when they travelled to Singapore for the AMIS Asian Honor Choir Festival, joining young musicians from 30 international schools across Asia.

Selected through an audition process, the students arrived having already prepared a shared repertoire, then spent the festival rehearsing alongside singers they had never met before. Intensive sectionals and full-ensemble rehearsals challenged them to refine their technique, listen closely to one another, and come together as one choir before taking the stage for a culminating performance.

It was demanding, with some rehearsals lasting up to eight hours, but the experience offered much more than musical development. Students formed friendships across cultures, learned from accomplished conductors, and experienced what can happen when individuals bring their talents together toward a shared goal.

For NIS, the experience also reflects the continued growth of our choir program. The Honor Choir, offered as a Secondary Co-Curricular Activity, has grown from 12 to 20 students, giving passionate singers another opportunity to develop their skills and perform together beyond the school day.

Experiences like AMIS show where those opportunities can lead. What begins with choosing to join a CCA can become a chance to discover a passion, challenge yourself, connect with people from around the world, and find the confidence to share your voice on an international stage.

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The NIS High School Girls Football Team arrived in Busan with a title to defend. Two months later, they returned as 2026 EAISAC champions, but the 6–0 score in the final tells only part of the story.

Long before tournament day, the team had committed to a shared goal. They showed up ready to train, pushed through demanding fitness sessions, listened to their coaches and one another, and worked deliberately on the small details that could make them stronger. Individual talent mattered, but they understood that achieving their goal would require something more: trust, determination, and a unity of purpose.

When the final arrived, all of that preparation showed. The Dolphins played with confidence and intensity, earning a decisive victory and successfully defending their EAISAC title.

The championship was theirs, but so was everything it took to get there. Through Dolphin Athletics, students experience what it means to commit to something bigger than themselves, persevere through challenge, and discover what a team can accomplish when everyone works toward the same goal.
 

Explore Dolphin Athletics

For the past ten years, NIS Grade 5 students have travelled to Toyooka City in Hyogo Prefecture, where a remarkable environmental success story gives them the opportunity to experience their learning firsthand.

Once declared extinct in Japan, the Oriental White Stork has returned to the region through decades of collaboration among farmers, conservationists, government officials, schools, and community members. Together, they changed agricultural practices, restored wetlands, and rebuilt an ecosystem where both wildlife and people could thrive.

Connected to the IB Unit of Inquiry Sharing the Planet, the trip takes students beyond studying sustainability in the classroom. They plant rice seedlings in working paddies, investigate biodiversity, learn from members of the local community, and explore the connections between agriculture, culture, people, and the environment.

Through these experiences, big ideas become tangible. Students see that conservation requires collaboration, that individual and collective choices have consequences, and that meaningful change often takes patience and long-term commitment.

Toyooka is more than a destination. It is a living classroom where students discover what it means to learn from the world around them and consider the role they can play in caring for it.

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