Batu Hijau International School (BHIS) has been established to provide educational excellence for the dependants of expatriate sojourners involved in the development of Newmont's very large Batu Hijau gold and copper mine on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. In 1997 BHIS opened with temporary facilities in Mataram on the adjacent island of Lombok. By 1999, Newmont had constructed the whole new 'town-site' of Buin Batu in the south west corner of Sumbawa with full infrastructural support that includes a 'purpose-built' PreK~Grade 8 international school.

Our excellent facilities are suitable for a school of 120 students; our current enrolment is below sixty.

The school's campus includes: beautiful tropical gardens, 8 bright, air-conditioned classrooms; a central library; art room; computer lab; 40 new PCs with supporting network of printers, scanners, copiers, intranet & internet access; central sports field; covered sports area; gym; aerobics room; six lane 25m pool; and use of nearby golf driving range, tennis courts, and jungle track. Sumbawa's paradise surf beaches are only two kilometers away!

The school's academic program has been developed by past and current faculties and is consistent with best pedagogical practices from Australia, USA and Britain. In addition to our 'international' curriculum, we take advantage  of our unique local environment. Supporting educational materials are brought in from suppliers in North America and Australia.

Our faculty is hired from North America, Australia and Britain; our students are mostly from Australia and North America. We are supported by a large team of host-national administrators, teachers' aides, drivers and ground staff.

Newmont fully funds and supports BHIS's operations.

The CIS accreditation process was initiated in early 2000 and was completed late 2002. A number of 'visiting teams' had to cancel because of world events and we had 'updated' our report several times by the time we hosted a 'visiting team' in April 2004.

We operate on a 'quarter' system of four ten-week terms; mid-semester breaks are of two weeks and at the end of each semester there is a four-week break. The longer breaks occur in Dec/Jan and Jun/Jul, thereby coinciding with both northern and southern hemisphere summers.