International School for Better Beginnings (ISBB) - Philippines

In Lucena City, Philippines, a provincial K–12 school with fewer resources than its metropolitan counterparts has become an unlikely global beacon for character education. The International School for Better Beginnings (ISBB) has earned recognition from the United Nations, UNESCO, SEAMEO, and education ministries worldwide for one radical idea: that values should not be lectured, but lived.

ISBB's founders confronted a painful paradox in Philippine education—values were formally taught as a subject, yet corruption, intolerance, and environmental neglect remained normalised in society. Their response was to redesign the school entirely around a simple question: What if schools were measured not only by academic results, but by the positive change they create in society?

The answer became a fully embedded whole-school approach spanning preschool through Grade 12, built on four core values: Integrity, Solidarity, Brilliance, and Benevolence. Rather than treating values as moral slogans, ISBB operationalises them through Outcomes-Based Education, where every lesson plan must include measurable "attitude" outcomes alongside knowledge and skills. Grade 1 students produce eco-friendly soap to protect marine life; Grade 3 students partner with the UN FAO to support impoverished Filipino farmers; Grade 7 students design indigenous-inspired bracelets that fund livelihood programs for Quezon communities; Grade 10 students run livelihood workshops for prison inmates.

The results are staggering: students lead over 100 initiatives annually, impacting more than 20,000 community members. Every year, ISBB students organise the Philippines' largest student-led event for the UN Sustainable Development Goals, convening government, NGOs, businesses, and youth.

This approach has drawn extraordinary international attention. ISBB was selected to present at the largest-ever UNESCO education event in Paris, addressing 150+ education ministries and 2,000 participants. The British Council invited ISBB to train 600+ educators worldwide. The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and Vatican City hosted ISBB to train global teachers. The Institute of World Affairs brought ISBB to the United States to train American teachers and pre-service educators. EcoChampions Africa invited ISBB to train 100 climate education leaders across the continent. SEAMEO invited ISBB teachers and students to present to Southeast Asian education ministers in Manila and Bangkok.

ISBB's work has been recognised with the AFS Award for Young Global Citizens in New York City, the National Sustainable Leadership Award in Education from SustainablePH and Security Bank, and honours from BPI Foundation and Bayan Academy. A school administrator was invited by UNESCO Headquarters to author a global handbook on meaningful youth engagement.

Impact data tells the story: 100% of teachers report students developed critical thinking for solving real problems; 100% of parents observed positive behavioural changes in their children.

ISBB deserves the Global Schools Prize because it proves that schools—guided by joy, love, and purpose—can become catalysts of resistance against apathy and engines of systems-level change. From a provincial Philippine city, ISBB offers the world tangible, replicable hope: that character education, done courageously, can transform not just students, but society itself.