Learning at ISSH

The International School of the Sacred Heart is a truly international school, with unique programming that reflects the needs of our specific student community. Designed especially for girls and young women whose experience spans a variety of cultures, languages, and backgrounds, our in-house, college preparatory curriculum provides our students with the foundation for the highest degree of success in tertiary education and beyond.

Our well-rounded and truly international programme develops competent, independent, creative thinkers prepared for exciting futures. Our whole-school pedagogical focus is underpinned by our definition of High Quality Learning and Teaching, which enables learners to engage in student-centred tasks that involve deeper thinking, authentic work, student agency, and innovation. As active participants in the learning process, students engage positively in developmentally appropriate tasks of increasing cognitive complexity that foster creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and effective communication and collaboration. Through active inquiry and discovery, they build upon prior knowledge, analyse, evaluate, and reflect to transfer skills across subjects and real-world situations. Our approach provides personally challenging tasks with opportunities for self-reflection and growth in a safe environment for intellectual risk-taking. In addition to this, students use technology and media purposefully and ethically to enhance learning, creativity, and collaboration. Together, this fosters the development of lifelong learning leaders who will contribute to the world well beyond the classroom.

Engaging with and learning about Generative Artificial Intelligence is part of developing responsible digital citizens. Teachers and students at our school improve learning through the responsible use of AI, the development of AI literacy and expertise, and the ability to critically evaluate AI outputs. We engage in meaningful dialogue about the ethical use of AI in education and proactively embrace our responsibility to remain current as technology develops.

We carefully select resources from American, Canadian, British, Australian, and New Zealand curricula, synthesising materials from around the world to meet our students' specific needs. Alongside diverse assessment methods, we conduct benchmark testing using NWEA MAP in Grades 1–8 and PSAT in Grades 9–11. As an SAT testing centre, our Grade 12 students typically take the SAT alongside a broad offering of over 20 Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

Grounded in the global Sacred Heart Goals and Criteria, our pre-K through Grade 12 curriculum develops the whole student with an empathetic understanding of the world. Our all-English program incorporates a unique Values curriculum with an international mindedness focus, developing leadership skills in girls and young women. Fine arts and athletics are integral to our curriculum, alongside extensive extracurricular opportunities including competitive sports, choirs, orchestras, STEM pursuits, service organisations, and more.

Accredited by the Council of International Schools (CIS) and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), ISSH's dedicated faculty from approximately 20 countries continue their lifelong learning journey through the highest quality local and global professional development. Whether students are with us for one year or their entire school career, they remain part of our Sacred Heart community—a home in Tokyo where hearts never truly leave. When our alumni return to visit from all around the globe, they often find their heart has never left their “home” in Tokyo.

Visit us to learn more about what makes the International School of the Sacred Heart Tokyo's top school for girls to grow academically, socially, emotionally, spiritually, and physically—with courage and confidence.