Learning is essential for individual development and a thriving and forward-thinking community.
Giving of oneself enriches us all.
Transparency is the foundation for building genuine and trusting relationships.
Commitment leads to excellence.
All people have inherent value and dignity.
Bahrain Bayan School is a renowned bilingual coeducational school offering an innovative and dynamic international curriculum resulting in outstanding teaching and learning, and preparing students for higher education. Our vibrant learning community is enriched by a distinguished faculty, state-of-the-art facilities, rich resources and collaboration. We instill humanitarian values and a global perspective that enables students to discover pathways and to thrive as citizens in a challenging and changing world.
BACKGROUND
Today, we live on a planet whose resources are greatly depleted and whose intricate and delicate life sustaining systems are at severe risk of breaching dangerous levels that threaten to make life for future generations more and more difficult, if humanity is unable to reverse the trend. We are faced with unprecedented environmental challenges such as air & water pollution, climate change, global warming, depleted natural resources, loss of biodiversity, ocean acidification, ozone layer depletion, and much more. Any and all of these challenges are a threat not just to the planet, but to our way of life on it. As a leading educational institution, the Bahrain Bayan School is fully aware of these challenges and recognizes that it is every individual's and institution's responsibility to actively participate in combating these challenges and make a conscious move towards sustainability. This Sustainability Charter is a statement of the school’s commitment towards sustainable development and outlines the school’s vision, goals and objectives in this regard.
SUSTAINABILITY VISION
To be recognised as a leader in creating and promoting a culture of sustainability within the school, in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the GCC region and beyond.
SUSTAINABILITY GOALS & OBJECTIVES
1. Ensure that sustainable practices guide its operations of the school’s premises
1.1. Incorporate sustainability plan and activities into the school’s strategic plan
1.2. Holistic strategy encompassing electricity, water and waste.
1.3. Reducing energy usage & opting for renewable sources of energy to reduce carbon footprint
1.4. Reducing the water consumption and reusing water wherever possible
1.5. Better waste segregation and management within facility
1.6. Maintain Green Building Standards in all operation and construction activities
1.7. Adopt an environmentally friendly purchasing policy
2. Integrate sustainability courses as a part of its core curriculum
2.1. Create courses that offer specialist education on topics such as environment, renewable energy, water, waste management, etc.
2.2. Create an impact on the staff and the students to think about the surrounding environment
2.3. Enable its students to become champions who contribute towards sustainable development
3. Create an outreach program to the wider community
3.1. Reach out and educate the wider community (via student’s and teacher’s family and friends network) on the needs and benefits of sustainable living and development
3.2. Promote sustainability at school fairs and events
DIRECTION & OVERSIGHT
The high level vision, goals and objectives of this Charter are set and will be sponsored and governed by the School's Executive Committee (EC). The EC consists of selected members from the Board of Directors, including the Head of the EC (Chair of the Board), heads of the Education Committee, the Finance Committee and Facilities & Projects Committee.
The EC will be responsible for the governance of the school's sustainability initiatives
• It will review and approve the annual action plans
• It will facilitate the annual action plans by providing the necessary support and resources
• It will review the progress and outcomes of annual action plans
EXECUTION
The EC will nominate a set of staff, teachers and students that will constitute the school’s Green Team. This team will be responsible for converting the goals and objectives of the charter into annual action plans that will be submitted for review and approval to the EC. The team will then execute these plans and report their outcomes to the EC.
The Bayan School Board of Directors approved the Strategic Plan updated during the 2021-2022 school year.
With facilitation assistance from Transformations Systems President Teresa Arpin, and under the leadership of Nada Shamsi (Coordinator), and various committees, the school managed to develop the plan with a wide representation from board, administrators, faculty, staff, parents and students.
The strategic plan is mainly focused on two strategies; Each strategy was assigned a number of end results. Those end results can be described as outcomes of each strategy.
Once those end results were identified the school assigned action steps that would accomplish each end result. This created a road map for the school to ensure the two main strategies were adopted and integrated into the school. The strategic plan is a continuous plan that will require continuous review and implementation for many years to come.
We are extremely grateful to our Board Chairperson Dr. May Al Otaibi and the large group of participants for their hard work and cooperation which resulted in a thoughtfully developed plan that will guide our school through the school year.