Sydney Japanese International School

Sydney Japanese International School (SJIS) (シドニー日本人学校, Shidonī Nihonjin Gakkō) is a Japanese international school located in Terrey Hills within Warringah Council, New South Wales, Australia, in the Sydney area.

SJIS is made up of two divisions. Each division focusses on one stream of Education. The International Division delivers the Australian Curriculum from Kindergarten through to Grade 6. The Japanese Division delivers the Japanese Curriculum from Grade 1 to Year 9.

The students in both divisions combine classrooms in three of their subjects: Music, Physical Education and Visual Arts. The benefit of mainstreaming the students is it allows for cross cultural exchange and communication.

Bilingual assemblies are held weekly and all students study and play on the one campus allowing for friendships and interaction throughout the day. By mainstreaming the two divisions the students feel very much part of one school.

Bilingual Education

At SJIS significant advances in second language teaching and learning are made through an affiliation with the Centre for Language Teaching Research at Macquarie University (Sydney). Curriculum development is monitored by some of Australia’s top researcher’s in second language acquisition to ensure that our approach is the finest on offer.

It has been recognised in many studies that children who become proficient in a second language have greater mental agility, a sharper memory and are likely to be more alert later in life. Such children also develop a broader appreciation and adaptability in a variety of social and cultural contexts. Bilingualism also opens social and economic doors that are not easily accessible to mono-linguists.

All SJIS students from Kindergarten through to Year 9 are enriched by a 45 minute language lesson, either Japanese or English.

History

In May 1969, the Japanese Society of Sydney founded the first Japanese School in Australia to provide the children of Japanese expatriates with Japanese primary school education. The original school was located in a church site in Lindfield, starting with a single classroom with 33 students. It was the first overseas Japanese School in a developed country. In 1971, the school relocated to the current site in Terrey Hills to accommodate the rapidly growing number of enrolments. Up until 1975 SJIS offered one stream of education for students in Year 1 to Year 9 which was the Japanese Government Curriculum, predominately catering for Japanese families. But in 1975 the school recognised a need on the Northern Beaches for a culturally based private primary school. In 1975, SJIS established a second stream of education, the Australian Curriculum for students in Kindergarten through to Year 6. The school purchased the adjoining 5 acres of land in 1984 for further expansion. Since then, further developments have continued. A 200 metre running track was completed in 1993. Three years later, a new double storey building complex was built for administration and additional classrooms. The International Division started a Kindergarten grade in 1997. The International Division of SJIS is unique in its approach to cultural understanding and language learning. Very few schools in the world are able to match us in terms of the balanced blend of two distinct cultures and language studies.

Campus

SJIS is situated in the beautiful leafy suburb of Terrey Hills, 25km north of the Sydney CBD. SJIS incorporates a state of the art field track and soccer oval in a vast 14 acres of grounds. The school provides large well-equipped classrooms with smartboards to enhance children’s active learning. In addition, computer rooms, science laboratories, and special subject rooms, such as music and home science are provided to facilitate academic learning. Large, modern, air-conditioned classrooms support a student-centered approach to learning with plenty of room to develop class projects and themes. Every classroom is fitted with a telephone and networked to the school’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) system. Sydney Japanese International School combines the serenity of the natural environment with modern buildings, well-equipped classrooms and facilities to rank among the finest found in any school in Sydney.

See also

• Japanese Australian

References

• Mizukami, Tetsuo. The Sojourner Community: Japanese Migration and Residency in Australia (Volume 10 of Social sciences in Asia, v. 10). BRILL, 2007. ISBN 9004154795, 9789004154797.

External links

• Sydney Japanese International School
• Sydney Japanese International School Template:Ja icon