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Sustainability at the DSJ
Sustainability at the DSJ from Solar Energy to Community Support
Sustainability plays a central role at the Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg (DSJ). It is a topic that involves every area and every person at the school – from the youngest students, who make sure to sort and collect their waste, to the school management, which strives to create a paperless office. The DSJ aligns its efforts with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations in 2015. These goals address key areas such as society, the environment, and the economy.
At DSJ, we understand that sustainability is more than just a trend. It is a responsibility we hold towards future generations. Our school prepares the next generations to shape the world of tomorrow, ensuring a healthy planet and a just society. Together, as the DSJ family, we are committed to protecting our environment and acting sustainably, leaving the world a little better than we found it.
Sustainability is part of our daily school life. How this looks in practice and which areas of the UN Development Goals are covered can be explored here:
1. No Poverty
DSJ Social Fund
At the Deutsche Internationale Schule Johannesburg (DSJ), the well-being of every child is close to our hearts. The Social Fund is an example of how we work together to fight poverty and ensure that all our students have equal access to education.
The fund provides help where it is needed most – whether through the provision of glasses, second-hand uniforms, school supplies, or transport home after evening events. In this way, we make sure that no child is held back by financial barriers.
This fund is closely linked to our ISec Programme, which was established in 1989 to address inequality in South Africa’s education sector.
Together, as the DSJ family, we are making education more accessible and creating an environment where all our students can grow and succeed.
Each year, the kindergarten at DSJ participates in the Santa Shoebox Project, an initiative that brings joy to underprivileged children in South Africa during the Christmas season. Every family packs a uniquely decorated shoebox, filled with essential items such as hygiene products, stationery, clothing, toys, and sweets. These personalized gifts not only put smiles on the faces of the children who receive them but also teach the DSJ kindergarten children important values like sharing and compassion. They learn early on that there are children less fortunate than themselves and how important it is to help others.
By participating in the Santa Shoebox Project, DSJ makes a valuable contribution to supporting disadvantaged communities and shows its students how small acts of kindness can make a big difference.
At DSJ, community outreach is a heartfelt project for our students. In close collaboration with the organizations Guild Cottage and Hearts of Hope, our learners from Grade 8 onwards actively support underprivileged children and youth. They regularly visit these facilities, assist on-site, and build meaningful friendships.
Fundraising events, where money, food, hygiene products, and toys are collected with great enthusiasm, are especially important. The school's knitting clubs also put a lot of love into creating blankets and clothing items that are donated to the children. While Guild Cottage provides a safe haven for girls in need of help and support, Hearts of Hope offers a loving home as an orphanage.
The commitment of the students is a significant part of life at DSJ. They learn to advocate for others and develop a strong sense of social responsibility and empathy. In doing so, they help strengthen the community and gain valuable life experiences.
2. Zero Hunger
Healthy Food for All
The students supported by the DSJ through the ISEC programme receive a free, warm meal every day in addition to their education. Providing healthy, balanced school meals at affordable prices allows all children to focus on their learning and social interactions at school without the distraction of hunger.
3. Good Health and Well-being
Prevention and Education
An open and trusting approach to sensitive and challenging topics is important to us. We address issues such as sexuality and relationships, bullying, and the use of social media actively and supportively. To this end, we regularly offer workshops led by specialized experts. These sessions, available both online and in-person, are free and accessible to all members of our school community.
In the classroom, these topics are discussed in an age-appropriate and sensitive manner, providing students with a safe space to talk about them. Discussion groups, theatre performances, and interactive formats complement our offerings and help raise awareness of these important issues. In this way, we support the well-being of our school community and create opportunities for open conversations about challenging topics.
To promote health, the DSJ Parents' Council organises a blood drive once a quarter in collaboration with the South African National Blood Service (SANBS). Pupils aged 16 and over, parents, teachers and staff have the opportunity to donate blood at the school.
Blood donations are particularly important for the SANBS, as blood reserves in South Africa are often scarce. The organisation has set itself the goal of collecting 3,000 blood donations every day in order to ensure the supply of blood to patients. The long-standing partnership between the DSJ and the SANBS makes a valuable contribution to the fulfilment of this goal.
4. Quality Education
High-quality education is a particular concern for us at the DSJ. Our school is open to all those seeking an inclusive and challenging education – regardless of gender, background or disability. The school’s own support centre offers comprehensive support to ensure equal participation in lessons and to compensate for individual disadvantages.
Whether it’s support in subjects such as German or maths or special help with behavioural or learning difficulties, we offer targeted support measures. There is also the Genius Hub, where pupils receive supervised homework help.
To ensure the high quality of education, our teachers regularly take part in further training and workshops. As a result, modern pedagogy is integrated into everyday school life and our pupils benefit from an optimal learning environment that takes their individual needs into account.
5. Gender Equality
At our school, gender equality is not only a principle of school life as a whole, but also an integral part of school education. Our school should be a place where all children can develop freely – regardless of their gender. The same applies to teachers and staff.
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
At our school, we consider access to clean water and hygienic sanitary facilities to be a fundamental right of every child. To ensure a reliable water supply, our school has its own borehole, which supports the fresh water supply and cushions any shortages in the municipal supply. In addition, freely accessible water dispensers are available for pupils to obtain drinking water at any time.
Our dedicated cleaning team ensures clean classrooms and, in particular, hygienic sanitary facilities on a daily basis. Compliance with hygiene regulations is regularly monitored by a strict quality management system to ensure the highest standards.
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
The German School Johannesburg’s commitment to clean energy is particularly visible from a bird’s eye view: an impressive number of solar panels on our roofs show our conscious commitment to sustainable energy production. This investment is a clear sign that we want to utilise clean energy in the long term in order to reduce our ecological footprint and gain some independence from the city’s energy supplier.
By expanding our electricity storage capacities, we are ensuring that our school has a stable and uninterrupted power supply at all times. In this way, we are actively contributing to the realisation of UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 and making a contribution to a more environmentally friendly future.
8. Decent work and Economic Growth
Our motto ‘One School’ stands for a community in which everyone – teachers, staff, pupils and parents – is an indispensable part of the whole. We emphasise the importance of decent work through the principle of equality and fairness: all employees have the same rights and obligations and have secure, fair jobs.
Co-determination is very important to us. Our employees have an active say and can make their voices heard through a dedicated teachers’ representative body. This actively campaigns for the protection of labour rights and ensures that challenges or problems are addressed openly and resolved constructively.
The trusting relationship between the teachers’ representatives and the school management is a cornerstone of our school. Through this close collaboration, we promote positive, fair and constructive cooperation and create a working environment that respects the dignity and rights of each individual.
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
At the German School Johannesburg, continuous investment in our infrastructure is a matter of course, always with sustainability and economic efficiency in mind. Future-oriented projects such as the solar energy system, our waste separation system and the Robotics Lab demonstrate our commitment to technological innovation and environmental protection.
We also invest continuously in fundamental areas: safe play equipment, school safety measures and modern classroom equipment ensure an optimal learning environment. learning environment. These investments guarantee a sustainable and future-proof infrastructure.
10. Reduced Inequalities
A network that supports
We are actively committed to reducing social inequalities and offering all children the same opportunities, regardless of their background. To this end, we have established a broad network of support options. Our social fund and scholarship programme ensure that financial barriers do not hinder access to education. This gives every child the opportunity to be part of our school community.
We also offer comprehensive support in the learning process: the Phoenix Centre is open to all pupils and offers a wide range of educational support services. In addition, our Lernzentrum ensures access to modern IT technology, books and learning materials so that every child has the best possible learning conditions.
We counter inequalities at our school with a strong democratic structure. At the DSJ, everyone has a voice. Even the youngest pupils can play an active role in the class council, as class representatives or in the pupil parliament and thus learn early on to take responsibility and express their opinions.
Teachers, parents and staff also have a say in their elected committees. Transparency and participation are of central importance in all decisions within the school to ensure that every voice is heard and taken into account.
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
With our free bus service, we actively contribute to the promotion of sustainability in the city of Johannesburg. All pupils can use the school transport service. It covers large parts of the city area.
This service significantly reduces the ecological footprint of our school community by reducing individual journeys and the associated CO2 emissions.
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
Reuse instead of buying new
Resource-conserving consumption plays a central role at our school. For many years, our dedicated Parents’ Representative Council has organised a successful monthly second-hand sale of school uniforms, where clothes in good condition are passed on to the school community. In addition, a book market for used school books is organised at the end of the school year, also initiated by the PRC. These activities not only help to conserve valuable resources, but also provide financial relief for parents. By reusing school materials and uniforms, we actively promote sustainable consumption and make an important contribution to environmental protection.
At the DSJ, resource conservation also means careful separation of materials, to which all members of the school community contribute. There are various rubbish bins and litter bins throughout the school grounds, which are clearly labelled so that waste such as plastic, paper and other materials can be properly separated.
Our school also has a modern waste sorting centre where all school waste is collected and sorted centrally. This structure creates optimal conditions for the reuse of glass, paper and plastic and supports our efforts to minimise the school's ecological footprint.
13. Climate Action
Everyone bears responsibility
Climate protection starts with all of us, and this is particularly evident in the active participation of the entire school community in sustainable projects. Even primary school pupils take responsibility by keeping their playground clean and collecting rubbish themselves. This service is part of a class’s duties right through to the upper school.
We attach particular importance to waste avoidance. Everyone is encouraged to avoid single-use packaging and unnecessary waste. Through these conscious measures, we send a strong signal in favour of climate protection and promote an understanding of a sustainable lifestyle from an early age.
14. Life below water
The global pollution of oceans and inland waters by plastic waste is a serious problem that our school is actively tackling. We implement targeted measures to avoid single-use plastic. At school events, we consistently use our reusable catering equipment to reduce plastic waste and minimise the impact on the environment.
By acting consciously in this way, we are helping to protect the oceans and waterways and making an important contribution to the preservation of underwater life.
15. Life on land
We pay attention to biodiversity on our school grounds. A large part of the area consists of green spaces that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also functional. Our old trees provide valuable shade, while the planting deliberately consists of indigenous plant species, including many succulents, which require little water and thus enable conscious irrigation.
These plants help to improve air quality and create a natural environment where our students can spend a lot of time outdoors. Our dedicated team of gardeners ensures that the green spaces are maintained and kept in good condition. The green spaces are an essential part of our school and promote a healthy and pleasant learning environment while making an important contribution to biodiversity.
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
Peace and respect are at the centre of our school community. As an encounter school, we offer a space in which conflicts can be resolved peacefully and on an equal footing. Pupils in the middle school are trained as mediators to actively contribute to fair conflict resolution.
Regular workshops for parents and pupils on dealing with bullying and social media promote an understanding of respectful and safe behaviour. In this way, we strengthen the foundation for a fair, inclusive and peaceful school community
17. Partnerships for the Goals
As one of the oldest co-educational public schools in Johannesburg, the DSJ has built up a broad network of partnerships over many decades. These links span the fields of culture, business, politics and sport and encompass both the German and South African communities, locally and internationally, with particularly strong links to Germany.
Partnerships also play a central role in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which the DSJ is actively pursuing. By working closely with various stakeholders, we are able to realise important projects and initiatives in the environmental, educational and social fields.
In the educational field, the school is closely networked with the institutions of German schools abroad, and all areas within the school also work together as partners. The parents provide the Board of Directors and Parents’ Council, and their commitment and expertise is highly valued by the school. The alumni are just as important, as the DSJ attaches great importance to ensuring that the school spirit lives on beyond the school years.
