Head of School Notes

September was a busy month for professional learning and collaboration at NIS!

On September 20, we proudly hosted the leaders of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Belonging (DEIJB) from the Japan Council of International Schools (JCIS). JCIS is a collaborative association of 30 high-quality international schools, from Hokkaido to Okinawa. As the only JCIS school in the Chubu region, NIS served as an ideal central hub for teams to meet and plan inclusion efforts across all member schools.

In recent years, JCIS schools, including NIS, have been working together to build an inclusion and belonging framework that connects all schools in a shared commitment to this essential work. The framework emphasizes three key pillars: knowing diversity, connecting inclusively, and engaging equitably. It fosters collaboration and growth around important areas such as systems and structures, learning environments, and community engagement.

With the framework now complete, the focus shifts to implementation. At the session, planning teams from JCIS schools collaborated on the design of an anti-bias workshop, scheduled for November at NIS, and an inclusion conference, set to take place in Tokyo in April.

Then on September 21 and 22, we hosted educators from across the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS)—a network that spans from India in the west to Fiji in the east, and from Ulaanbaatar in the north to Indonesia in the south. As an EARCOS member, NIS was proud to welcome practitioners to campus to join together and advance our understanding of restorative practices. The concept that when children make mistakes our obligation is to teach, not to punish, seems an obvious one - yet schools have not always been best prepared to do this in ways that are perceived to be workable, equitable, or effective. NIS is proud to lead the way in embedding these practices to ensure the well-being and success of all students.

This level of professional collaboration is one of the key factors that makes NIS unique and I would like to thank Anna Zymoglad (our EARCOS coordinator) and Lisa Burns and Anja Zandeberg (our DEIJB co-chairs) for their leadership in helping our school reach out, lead and connect in these areas. Though we are the only CIS (Council of International Schools) accredited school in Chubu, we are far from isolated. Our active role in CIS, JCIS, and EARCOS allows us to remain at the forefront of best practices in international education and enables our staff to collaborate with the best of minds to ensure that our students continue to inquire, inspire, and have impact.