About your guide
Over the past few years we have reported on pupils helping to build houses on the mainland, refurbishing an old school in Laos, trekking to a leprosy colony way up in the Himalayas, joining a famous adventurer in New Zealand and doing their bit for the environment, both at the G8 conference in Kobe, Japan, and in an eco-garden in Hong Kong.
What, you may ask, has all this to do with the Good Schools Guide? The answer is: everything.
All parents want the best for their children and it goes without saying that for many, this means securing a thorough basic schooling to set them up for life, with the aim of getting a good job and salary with solid prospects, or a ticket to university. The endeavour requires dedication to the student work ethic; swotting, burning the midnight oil and exam stress.
For others, though, there is much more to education than that.
The fact is that knowledge itself is only half the story. The curriculum is vital but it is not everything. There is much more to learning than absorbing facts. Education is about human development, learning to live in an increasingly internationalised world. Extra-curricular activities and student empowerment often pose the individual challenge that the timetable doesn't.
It is the difference between simply educating children to do well and pass exams and producing lateral-thinking, imaginative, courageous and confident youngsters for whom the world at large is an opportunity rather than a challenge.