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Address by the Principal
Principal Onitsuka Masafumi
This school was established in 1994 as the first public secondary school in Japan to combine upper and lower secondary education in one institution. This year is the 27th anniversary of its establishment under the "Forestopia Miyazaki Plan". "Forestopia," which is a combination of "Forest" and "Utopia," is a term coined to represent a place where people can live spiritually rich lives by taking advantage of the gifts of the forest.
From the very beginning of our school establishment, we have focused on research project-based study, called Forestopia Research Project, where students can experience hands-on and explorative learning with great support and corroborative work in this local region.
Gokase town, where our school is located, has a unique beauty of the scenery and pristine nature, such as precipitous rocky peaks and various kinds of gorges. It is also known as a town of cherry blossoms. People living in this town have respected the rich nature and protected its gift. In such a region, our school has produced unique individuals characterized by creative ways of thinking and the capacity to meet the challenges posed by the 21st century; through providing dormitory education and various kinds of experience-based learning with great support from the natural and human resources of our mountain surroundings and aiming to cultivate students' sensitivity with inspirational educational experiences.
We have conducted educational activities focusing on educating students to cultivate students' "zest of living" and "key competence", such as communicative competence, resourcefulness as well as intellectual competence with great care of a risk of attaching too much emphasis to knowledge acquisition.
From 2014 to 2019, our school conducted education as a Super Global High School. Furthermore, we are now in the educational project called "地域との協働による高等学校教育改革推進事業（Glocal Project）" supported by MEXT （Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology）. At the Super Global High School program (SGH program), our aim was to train young people to become global leaders who can succeed internationally. Regarding some of the educational activities, our students set their own research questions and conduct their research in the Global Forestopia Research Project. That project was based on what our school had practiced in the "Integrated Study Time" since 1994 and we have developed the curriculum focusing on Glocalization ever since we started the SGH program. In the program, students got lectures and support from universities and companies, which have concluded the partnership agreement.
In the new Glocal Project, we developed a new research-based project called "Global Forestopia Inquiry Learning Project". This project consists of 3 stages; 1st is "郷土探求" for 1st graders and 2nd graders, "実践探求" for 3rd and 4th graders, and "普遍探求" for 5th and 6th graders, where students are expected to conduct their research in the PDCA cycle ( Plan, Do, Check, Action/ Reflection). Through this project, we strive for making a good curriculum that enables our students to gradually conduct better and more sophisticated research and acquire logical and deeper thinking.
In addition, we are working on the project whose goal is to train young people to become global leaders who can succeed internationally through playing a leading role in establishing an educational consortium consisting of 5 neighboring towns and educational associations, local NPOs. It is called "GIAHS (Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems) Co-Learning Community". We are sure that this project will succeed in developing human resources who are willing to solve the issues collaboratively even in the unpredictable future.
The following is a phrase from the address given at the founding of our school:
"When you cultivate sensitivity; learn from heaven, earth and man; and learn heaven, earth, and man, you will find something dazzling both inside and outside of yourself."
Why don't you join us and develop yourself through friendly competition? You will surely find something dazzling.
