The book, ‘Evolution of Education Theory’ authored by John Adams defines education as a bipolar process in which one personality acts upon another to modify the development of other personality. The educator and educand are the two people involved in this process. Educators seek the overall development of the student by not only through imparting the knowledge skill but also through directly influencing the educand’s personality. MEES International School is one such school that focuses on developing the personality of its students while giving equal importance to their academic performance. At MEES International School, the child develops not only academic skills but also gain a positive attitude towards learning. The school empowers students to pursue their passion and surpass all the restrictions along with ensuring their holistic development.
The Visionary School Changing Lives
“Education is what survives when what has been learned as been forgotten” – B.F Skinner
Following the aforesaid principle, MEES’s vision is to nurture its students to be the rightfully educated citizens of the world. Any student, who graduates from MEES, demonstrates all those skills that help them to face challenges throughout their life.
To propel this vision of its, MEES trains its students starting right from kindergarten. Realizing the importance of technology and leveraging its pervasive power, MEES perceives digital awareness as a language. It believes that exposing students to the technology at a young age will equip them with the technical skills and prepare them for the future lying ahead. MEES believes that technology already influences the lives of many and it will continue to do so. A good example of this how the invention of smartphones, of AI (Artificial Intelligence), has already changed the world. The yet to be introduced technologies like quantum computers will change the world furthermore and skills expected from workers will change.
Cultivating the future-needed skills in students is what distinguishes MEES from other schools. At the school’s heart lies its values of confidence building, responsibility, risk-taking skills, social development and most of all enjoy learning. Guided by these core values, MEES International School has adopted a progressive approach to its educational programs. Galvanized by the ‘The Montessori Method of Education’, MEES combines technology into its academics by thus introducing students to the real world and help them evolve as respected individual learners. Classrooms equipped with projectors, instilling Google home devices in classrooms, and being able to connect with other students through video calls exemplifies, some of the advanced techniques used at this school.
Moving at par with the technology trends is one of the distinguishing features of this school. However, technology is only a tool used by the school to achieve its goal; the inclusive excellence of students. It also focuses on cultivating skills such as creativity and critical thinking.
MEES epitomizes the fact that ‘learning is a two-way process’. It encourages its faculties to use technology too. Students observe teachers; hence, it is necessary that they put their words into action. The easiest way to encourage students to use technology is when they witness teachers using modern technologies in the classrooms. This ignites their minds and increases their curiosity; as a result, they ask questions and try to learn more. Teachers learn about the latest technologies and help students attain the necessary skills for tomorrow.
Laudable Learning Experience
MEES International School has distinguished themselves for its unique and advanced approach towards education. Education in Japan has its roots in a traditional foundation, conservative, and is much focused on functioning and learning in groups. However, Japanese parents who often visit or have lived abroad have decided to move out from the conventional educational methods, seeking for more. MEES offers a student-centric academic culture; this approach by the school has helped students to evolve as independent learners, which goes beyond the conventional norms of Japanese education. This is one of the reasons why parents pick- out MEES International School as the ideal school for their offspring. With its innovative teaching method, the school believes that education should be seen as a platform that eliminates the differences between local and international school education. Focusing on sensory learning, MEES’ prime aim to provide a welcoming environment where students can express freely.
Teachers are the catalysts of this school. In spite of being a new school, the faculties of the school are skilled and experts in their respective field. With all that in place, the students can benefit from this expert pool of teachers and choose their field of interest from an early stage itself, getting personalized training as well. The teachers work as one team and coordinate with other teams and make it easy for children to switch between projects. While working in small groups, the school followed the Reggio Emilia approach, in which children co-construct, and take ownership over the direction of work or the project. Focusing on educating both the international and national students, MEES’ principles are built on the quote, “Educate the masses and then only a nation is possible”.
Zealous Scholar and Educationalist
This elite school is spearheaded by its Principal, Euft van den Berg. Prior to founding MEES International School, Euft served as the principal of an International School in Tokyo. It was during his tenure in this school that he observed that children around him wanted something more than the conventional Japanese education system. He also observed that the schools were mostly focusing on helping students attain good grades. His zeal to change this approach towards education motivated him to lay the foundation stone of MEES International School.
Armed with a Master degree in Fine Arts (MFA), he completed his schooling from Montessori High School (Montessori Lyceum, Amsterdam). Being a student of ‘The Montessori Method of Education’ himself; Euft believes that applying this theory to education will aid students in accomplishing their fullest potential while also becoming self-learners. Adapting the same approach in MEES, Euft envisions providing one such environment to his students where they are free to learn and pursue any passion, given that the school has a child-centric curriculum.
“Words of Trust”
“Our daughter joined MEES when she was one and a half years old. We were just back in Japan after a few years of life in California where we heard about American preschools and kindergartens from our friends who raised their kids there. We were looking for a school which would give our daughter flexibility. When we first met the principal of MEES, we thought this would be the one.
Now, my daughter turned 4, and we are very happy and fortunate that she has been with MEES. She has been exposed to a lot of artistic activities such as painting, music, and dancing. She writes letters to her friends to show a close friendship. Through digital learning, she learned how to communicate with her father through Skype when he was away.
She even teaches us English at home as if she were a teacher.
Most importantly, we feel she has been loved by her teachers and friends, and she is comfortable being herself. This self-esteem is now deeply embedded in her and we are certain she will continue to grow up as an independent and compassionate person.”
Anna’s Father
“Our daughter Sai has been going to MEES from when she was 1 year old. We are a mixed family, her father is Israeli and I am Japanese. At home, we speak both Hebrew and Japanese. We chose MEES for our daughter because of the international character. Sai is now 2 years old already understanding 3 languages and started to speak them too. We support the Montessori ideology and often Sai mentions older students names, it is clear that she looks up to them and likes to copy them. We would like her to be independent and creative, therefore we are happy we found MEES.”
Sai’s Mother
“The teachers in MEES have a unique character and a sense of arts. We feel the atmosphere as if going abroad like Europe or the United States whenever we enter the school. Since MEES adopts Montessori educational system, children are centered in the school. My daughter has learned her daily routines through her school life and been getting to do them by herself. Moreover, elder children look after little children in MEES. I believe that this helps children be considerate of others.
There are a lot of programs to cultivate creativity and a sense of music and arts. Surprisingly, children become able to identify each face of famous music composers and their music. The teachers take children to a park near MEES twice a day every day in order to let them play. By virtue of this, I think that the ability to exercise is developed.
My daughter went to another nursery school once, but she wanted to go back to MEES soon after going to this school because she liked the atmosphere of MEES and missed MEES very much. When she came back to MEES, all of the teachers kindly welcomed her. Now, she is enjoying her school life with her nice friends and excellent teachers again!”
– Aine’s daddy
