Junior School

The Junior School of the International School of the Sacred Heart welcomes girls from Grade 1 to Grade 4. Your daughter will enjoy our unique facilities, both indoor and out in the heart of Tokyo. These include the naturally bright and spacious indoor learning environments of our library, classrooms, and gym, as well as our expansive outdoor playground and tennis courts. Our library offers more than 10,000 current books, both fiction and non-fiction, and a makerspace area to spur innovative thinking.

With small class sizes, our international team and I focus on developing the social, physical, emotional, spiritual and cultural growth of our students in our rigorous and internationally minded English language curriculum. In the Junior School, your daughter will be intellectually stimulated by the strong language arts program focusing on literacy, as well as by the International Primary Curriculum focusing on science and social studies. Our unique Values education is respectful of our various religious backgrounds. Our program is designed to help each student realize her potential while developing relationships with other students and teachers to become a team member with an individual sense of purpose, capability and responsibility.

Our aim is to prepare and inspire each child for lifelong learning and our dedicated team supports each student throughout the day. In particular, English as a Second Language, technology, and digital citizen skills are integrated into the curriculum to enhance learning and creativity. In support of working parents, we also offer an Extended Day Program, which unlike traditional daycare, is a continuum of the day offering structure and play, homework completion time, and arts and crafts.

At an intense and fascinating stage of her development, I am certain your daughter will bloom in these special years within our international community at the Junior School.

Visit us, join us… the international education for girls in the green heart of Tokyo.

A School Experience Just For Girls 

Research indicates girls at all-girls schools feel more confident to learn, present, speak out, and lead when compared with their peers at coeducational institutions.  Junior School at ISSH is designed specifically to nurture girls in an environment where they thrive. Small class sizes, meaningful classroom relationships, an intentionally designed curriculum, and a focus on the social, physical, emotional, spiritual and cultural growth of our girls shape every aspect of our programme.

A Balance of Inquiry and Academic Rigor

During her time in Junior School, a Sacred Heart student learns to love learning. Inquiry-based transdisciplinary units through the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) spark our girls' curiosity and excite them about the prospect of digging deeper and learning more about relevant, interlinking topics that tie to their real-world experiences. Whether it's second grade students creating informative movies, scripting their own voiceovers and selecting relevant images and videos, or fourth graders using paper clay to create models of neurons, Junior School is full of hands-on, creative, expressive opportunities while ensuring girls are challenged and engaged with rigorous literacy and numeracy lessons.

Part of a Larger Community

Girls grow so much between grades 1 and 4, and so does their world. At Sacred Heart, students are encouraged to think about and take part in their larger community from their early years in a variety of ways—they participate in our annual Rice Drive charity project thoughtfully, they collaborate with older girls and serve as role models for younger students, they present for their families weekly at assemblies, they engage in cultural exchange with girls from our Japanese sister school... the list is endless! Opportunities for parents to be involved abound as well, ranging from our Parents Association to Homeroom Parents to a variety of one-off opportunities to visit, present, read storybooks, and more.