Meet the Team

Head of School

Lizet van der Walt obtained her BA Honors (English), BEd, LLB and BCom degrees as well as a PGCE and a Harvard Certificate in School Management and Leadership. She has taught children of all different ages – from pre-school to Grade 12 following CAPS and Cambridge curricula. Lizet has been a head of school for 19 years and has a thirst for learning more about the latest developments and research in education, navigating away from content-based exam-driven learning to enquiry- and project-based learning where each child can follow their own path at their own pace.

She sees educating for sustainability as an overarching mission and a worthwhile goal which is so much bigger than ourselves. She finds it wonderful to see how sustainability is interwoven in the Green School curriculum and how everybody on campus experience this in their everyday lives in the classroom.

Lizet is married to Peet, a retired marketing manager in the agricultural field. They have two children Jan-Hendrik and Willem, and their lovely wives Elsabé and Simone, as well as a granddaughter called Amelia.

‘It is such a privilege to lead a school where the well-being of children, teachers and a tight-knit parent community is so important. I find it invigorating to see how children flourish when they have a choice in how and what they learn and I enjoy rubbing shoulders with leaders in progressive education, discovering and developing skills our children need for their future.’

Founders

We had an extraordinary experience at Green School Bali that fundamentally changed how we see education. We saw a major change in our kids, the joy with which they went to school in the morning and the excitement on a Sunday evening. We could not get them to leave school in the afternoon, because they wanted to share with us the excitement of their day. They loved the extent of arts, music and drama as part of their normal week, they loved the opportunity to perform in front of the school on a weekly basis and they felt that they were mostly just playing. In talking with the Educators we realized just how much thought, research and passion went into curriculum design, the meticulous and rigorous development of weekly and daily programmes and yet the flexibility to adjust to each child’s unique level in each subject.

The low student:teacher ratio made an enormous impact on how individualised the teaching could be, how much time each child had to express their thoughts, contribute to discussions and raised their questions. We believe that this contributed significantly to the level of their engagement in classes and the extent to which they took ownership for their learning and enjoyed the journey.

We were also amazed at how the architecture of a campus effects everyone’s perspective of what is possible, the sense of freedom and creativity that comes from such wall-less structures. How watching the leaves blow in the breeze, listening to the river in the background and the natural light in classrooms created a very unique and memorable sense of place.

We are so excited to bring this concept home and to create a school filled with joy, teaching 21st century skills right here in our valley. A school that strengthens identity, sense of community and embeds sustainability in everything it does.

We invite you to join us, as learners, parents, educators or community members, to share in the excitement and magic of building a Green School.