“Creating well-rounded, critical thinking and compassionate leaders for the future”
The challenges of the 21st century and COVID-19 have elicited fundamental changes in education and how we connect with our children in the classroom. Teachers are required to ensure students are not only actively thinking in the classroom but also focus on how students respond to problems and challenges outside of the classroom. We have to be ready for the new normal of blended learning and greater use of technology in teaching. Content mastery itself is no longer sufficient to measure a good education. A student must learn to apply his/her knowledge, synthesise that knowledge with other forms of knowledge and have the necessary innovation and creativity to solve problems. These thinking and learning skills are complete when a student has a strong foundation in the spiritual understanding of Allah SWT and seeks in his/her life to serve Allah SWT and humanity. At Al-Irsyad Satya Islamic School, our aim is to achieve academic excellence through akhlaq (practice of Islamic virtues, morality and manners in Islamic theology and philosophy).
Developing students’ confidence is an important belief for all of us and we instil this belief into all our students from the Early Childhood (TK) division all the way to the Junior College (SMA) division. Every Child Can is our motto and we believe that every child should and can be a leader. Developing confidence is the foundation to build leadership skills for all our children. With these skills, they then become self-directed learners and value learning throughout their lives as exhorted by our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Our students have become more resilient during this pandemic.
With a dedicated team of school leaders and teachers in all our divisions, we aim to ensure our teaching methods are up to date, technologically savvy and provide the children a sense of wonder for their learning. We are very focused on professionally developing our teachers so that they are well-trained and constantly upgrade their skills to serve our children better. At the same time, we not only want our teachers to be hardworking but also have the ‘heart work’ to connect with the children and have an indelible impact on their lives. The emotional and psychological well-being of our young people are very important to us as they need to be guided well to meet the challenges when they become adults. It is equally important that we adhere to and promote the ideas of Pancasila so that our students learn to love Indonesia, value its diverse cultures and religions, and be committed to peace for all Indonesians. Al-Irsyad Satya is committed to building a better Indonesia and our students will be at the forefront in this endeavour.
Our curriculum is integrated to take the best from the Indonesian national system, the Singapore system in Mathematics and Science, and also from the University of Cambridge syllabus. Our primary, secondary and junior college divisions are benchmarked by the various international examinations conducted by the University of Cambridge to ensure that we are on track to constantly deliver a very good standard in international education. At the same time, our Islamic Studies curriculum is taught bilingually and ensure that our students internalise the virtues, practices and good manners in Islam. We strive to be the first choice for Islamic education and we aim to be a top international Islamic institution.
In the past two years, we have completed some infrastructure development in the school. We have completed the open amphitheatre for outdoor performances and a spot where students can do their presentations. We have extended our secondary school building to include eight new classrooms, a new science laboratory, a computer laboratory, a mini basketball court and an art studio. Phase two will begin on May 2022 to add a new indoor sports hall, renovate our existing sports facilities, renovate the school library and other existing facilities. We are ensuring that the school always maintains an international standard for all our amenities and ensure the necessary safety standards as well.
Our students are disciplined, focused on achieving academic excellence, aim to develop lifelong skills in problem solving and develop good leadership traits as they grow up. Most importantly, at each stage we want our children to be happy and confident. At the same time, we want our students to be mindful of the issues in Indonesia and the world. Our hope is to create optimistic problem solvers who are filled with compassion for their fellow human beings. It might sound idealistic but I believe that we have an excellent team of administrators, teachers and students at Al-Irsyad Satya who believe that they can build Khalifah fil-Ard. It is a journey we are all committed to. We constantly seek the blessings of Allah SWT in our journey.
Anbarasu Balrasan
Senior Principal
Al Irsyad Satya Islamic School
Bandung Barat
