CJS recognises that Education is an investment in our children's future. Yet we cannot predict the future. We do know technology is changing exponentially. We do know that the social, environmental, political, economic and professional challenges they encounter will be different to those we, their parents, face today.  We know there are threats to their future, from climate change, political corruption and economic instability.

Therefore it is our intent to prepare our children for the unknown, to be highly adaptable to their changing environment. We want them to discern the damaging and the edifying developments of their future. We want them to take responsibility for that environment, and become service leaders to effect positive change when action should be taken.

We know that our children have inquisitive minds, we intend to nurture that inquisitiveness, and show them strategies they can use to discover the answers to their questions, without the need to always be told the answer. Through this, we will blur the lines between school and holiday, lessons and play; with every new experience being approached as an opportunity to discover, and every problem encountered being seen as an opportunity to find a solution.

We encourage our children to continue this journey of inquiry and discovery throughout their lives, to seek out new skills and experience at all ages, whether in formal education beyond CJS, in their professional lives, or as retired grandparents. We value academic rigour, demanding the best academic performance our students are capable of, without frustrating and discouraging them. International and local benchmarks of academic ability will be used to assess our student’s progress against international and Ugandan standards.

Learning will be accompanied by practical application of that learning. It will be evident to our children the purpose of what they learn, and they will be given a practical opportunity to put it to use, and enjoy the rewards of doing so.

We will provide continuous professional development for our teachers, and ensure their learning will keep them abreast of global educational research. We will and adapt and implement strategies informed by this research for use in our context.

We will model ethical and moral values through the teachers and other staff our children interact with at Clarke Junior School, and give opportunities for leadership through student council and team sporting activities. We will develop confidence of character, by listening and valuing children’s voices, through providing a safe environment where all opinions and ideas are valid and valued, and by encouraging and praising rather than correcting and punishing. We will provide boundaries that are clear and consistent, with consequences for overstepping that are compassionate and firm. Any form of corporal punishment or verbal abuse will not be tolerated at Clarke Junior School, but this will not compromise discipline in the culture of respect we have cultivated.

While our children will be given a global perspective of cultures and values, we value our own Ugandan cultures and traditions, and encourage children to feel pride in their national identity, and be educated in the rich culture and traditions encompassed in being Ugandan, or in whichever nation they are from. Luganda and Swahili are taught as core languages in our school, and opportunities to learn skills such as drumming and traditional dance are actively encouraged. Our children also have an interest, understanding, appreciation and respect of other cultures.

Holistic needs of the children are met within school, including health care, exercise, nutrition, social skills, and spiritual growth. We educate parents and guardians of children to also care for holistic needs where the school may not be able to address those needs directly, such as dental care, nutritional advice, safe use of computers phones and tablets, and how much sleep children need.

Parents are partners in these goals, without their support we cannot achieve them. We rely on our parents to provide an environment at home which compliments that of Clarke Junior International School. We rely on our parents to ensure emotional and physical health for our children outside of school. We rely on our parents to be consistent with their financial commitment to our school. We rely on our parents to support with learning outside of school through encouraging reading and supporting with homework. We consider CJS as a community, and rely on all parents to consider themselves part of this community, rather than treat the school as an institution. We welcome and encourage further help from parents through appropriate feedback, donations of books, equipment or money for particular projects, and for keeping us accountable to this vision, and spreading the word of what we aspire to be.

As leaders in which moral values have been instilled, we will educate and empower our children to be change leaders in applying sustainable environmental behaviours in their communities. They will understand the global crisis their generation faces from climate change, how this will affect the world at large, their communities, and themselves as individuals, and will embrace the responsibility as individuals, as part of their community, and all of us globally to transform behaviours and technologies to reverse this crisis. They will understand the environmental threats that are most relevant to themselves in their current environment, such as air pollution, and what those effects are. They will have knowledge, problem solving skills, and sense of responsibility to proactively take measures to address these threats.