Green School Bali

The bamboo-campus school in Sibang Kaja founded by John and Cynthia Hardy in 2008, internationally famous for its sustainability ethos and a magnet for the Bali entrepreneur and digital-creative crowd.

Wall-less classrooms, an organic garden curriculum, and a 22-metre bamboo bridge over the Ayung River make this campus unlike anywhere else in the international school world. Around 400 students from 40-plus nationalities, WASC accreditation, project-based learning all the way through. Fees sit at the top end of the Bali market.

Parent voice splits hard. Some families adore the community, the freedom, and the friendships, and stay for years. Others say the academic rigour is uneven, behaviour standards loose, and that a chunk of the parent community treats Bali life as the point and school as the backdrop. Families who thrive here are the ones who genuinely buy into the philosophy, not the ones using it as a regular school with prettier architecture. Worth visiting more than once before committing.

• Reviews on Green School Bali are sharply polarised. Families who fit the project love the campus, the community across more than 40 nationalities, and the focus on sustainability and student-led projects. One parent wrote that they "loved it" and were "really glad the kids got to experience not only the school but the move, the culture and the friendships".
• A long, detailed parent review on the International Schools Database is heavily critical. The same reviewer described "no genuine activism, only superficial dives into sustainability education, no accountability, and no safeguarding culture", and characterised the parent body as "a community of privileged families enjoying their Bali lifestyle".
• The same critical review reported that more than 70% of families "are not there for education at all" and that classroom culture was "chaotic, with behaviour that is frequently disrespectful, particularly towards local Indonesian teachers".
• One parent withdrew their daughter, saying she "was subjected to relentless sexualised language and behaviour from her peers" and could not continue in that environment.
• Former teachers describe a beautiful campus and a school that looked after staff during COVID, but flag below-market pay for the qualifications expected.
• Underlying alignment matters more than at most schools: families who buy into the project-based, low-structure model report a transformative experience; those expecting standard academic rigour or tight pastoral structure report disappointment.