Service Learning at HJIS
Learning to Make a Difference
At Horizon Japan International School, service learning helps students connect what they learn with the world around them. From the early years to the Diploma Programme, students are encouraged to notice real needs, listen with care, and take thoughtful action.
Through classroom inquiry, student-led projects, local partnerships, and service trips, students learn that making a difference begins with understanding people, places, and perspectives.
Action at the Primary Years Programme (PYP)
Small Steps with Real Purpose
In the PYP, students begin to see that their ideas and actions can make a difference. Through units of inquiry, class projects, and community experiences, they explore how care, responsibility, and curiosity can lead to positive change.
These early experiences help students develop empathy, cooperation, and a sense of gratitude as they learn to take action in age-appropriate and meaningful ways.
Service as Action at the Middle Years Programme (MYP)
From Learning to Responsibility
In the MYP, students use their learning to engage with real-world issues and authentic community needs.
Through Service as Action, they are encouraged to think critically, collaborate with others, and reflect on the impact of their choices.
As students grow, service becomes a space where they can explore their interests, respond to challenges, and develop the confidence to contribute beyond the classroom
CAS at the Diploma Programme (DP)
Student Initiative with Purpose
Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) is central to student growth at HJIS.
In the DP, CAS gives students the opportunity to turn ideas into action. Students design, lead, and reflect on experiences that connect creativity, activity, and service in ways that are personal, purposeful, and community-focused.
Through CAS, students strengthen leadership, resilience, collaboration, and reflection while learning how sustained action can create meaningful impact.
Service Trips: Where Learning Meets the World
Learning Through People, Places, and Purpose
Some lessons are best understood when students step beyond the classroom. Through service trips, HJIS students meet new communities, listen to different stories, and discover how thoughtful action can make a meaningful difference.
These experiences help students grow with empathy, confidence, and responsibility as they learn that service begins with understanding — and continues through reflection, connection, and care.
PYP Service Projects
Preschool: Rice Harvest Project
As part of their inquiry into gratitude and community, preschoolers harvested the rice they planted last May. This hands-on experience strengthened their appreciation for nature and food.
The harvested rice will:
-
Support the Onigiri Action Campaign, providing meals for children in need.
-
Be donated to Kodomo Kitchen, a local food bank HJIS partners with.
-
Complement the school-wide Food Drive, where students contributed additional items.
Through these experiences, students are developing the IB Learner Profile attributes of Caring, Reflective, and Principled, while enhancing their social and communication skills. These early opportunities nurture empathy and a lifelong sense of gratitude in our youngest learners.
MYP Service Highlights
Literacy Club
Our club’s goal is to promote literacy in all its forms, whether that is classic literacy in the form of reading, or other diverse forms like media, or scientific literacy. We strive to make an impact on our community, hoping to bring awareness of the diversity literacy holds. Starting small from events like Literacy Week, to larger-scaled events that expand our reach beyond this community. Our club works to create an environment where literacy is not overlooked, but is accessible and enjoyable in all its varied forms. Knowledge comes diversely, and we make the most of that opportunity!
DP Service: CAS Project Highlights
Student-Led In-School MUN Conference
Our DP students are hosting a two-day Model United Nations conference for HJIS and partner schools. Their work supports SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.
The event includes:
-
A two-day conference
-
60+ participants
-
Representation from three or more external schools
-
Five student-led training sessions
Students are building leadership, teamwork, communication, and research skills while engaging deeply with global issues such as human rights, education, and child protection.
Service Trips
Learning Through Responsible Action
Through service trips, HJIS students step beyond the classroom to meet real communities, listen to different perspectives, and take thoughtful action. These experiences help students understand that service is not only about helping others, but about learning with humility, respect, and responsibility.
These experiences are not simply about helping others. They are opportunities for students to learn with humility, build empathy, and understand the responsibility that comes with being part of both local and global communities.
Connection
Learning Begins with Listening
Students learn from people, places, and communities beyond the school campus. Whether through local engagement in Yokohama and Kanagawa or wider service opportunities, they begin by listening, observing, and understanding real needs before taking action.
