Living school was founded in 2020 as a small not-for-profit non-government independent school by John Stewart, an experienced educator and school leader, who was born, raised and educated in Lismore. The focus for the Living School is to create a progressive model of schooling: one that is engaging, authentic, connected with the local community and based on the ideals of inclusivity, pluralism, humanism and sustainability.
Living School is intentionally different where we start by asking a simple question: What is school for? Rather than preparing children for a job, we believe school should be to develop and improve community. This simple definition resonates through all we do – to make learning life-worthy. We want our children to be ‘in’ the community – rather than walled in sites, walled in buildings, walled in classrooms.
By launching the Diploma Program, Living School is aligning our vision to a global outlook for learning and teaching, with the progressive intentions that created the IB in 1968, namely:
Critical analysis, student agency, transdisciplinary, range of skills, based on constructivism, holistic, criterion-referenced, open plan learning environments, and an openness to multiple perspectives.
By becoming a candidate school – the first in the Northern Rivers of NSW, we want to look creatively at how we implement the Diploma Program to allow a Year 13 approach. This means students could enrol in the DP in Year 11 or in Year 12, opening up our teaching practices to be less ATAR focused and more micro-skilling with certification.
IB Schools is delighted to welcome Living School to the Association and we look forward to hearing more about their IB journey.
