When the new school year began in July 2026, three children did not return.
There had been no withdrawal notice and no conversation about changing schools. Children entering the second and third grades, whose learning we had accompanied for several years, were simply absent. We later learned that they had moved to other schools.
For a small school, three children are a significant part of the community. We knew their progress, their personalities and the moments when something that had once been difficult finally became possible.
Among them was a particularly enthusiastic pupil who had regularly joined our additional activities. Her eagerness to participate made the departure especially unexpected.
We had imagined many more years of learning together. Suddenly, that shared journey had ended, without an opportunity to understand the concerns or discuss possible solutions.
Why continuity matters to us
Our work begins early, but our ambitions extend far beyond the first years of school. We want to accompany children towards adulthood, building on their abilities and helping them become increasingly independent.
That takes time. A teacher who knows a child well can recognise progress that a test alone will miss. Skills developed in kindergarten become the foundation for primary learning. Trust built with families makes it easier to address difficulties before they grow.
In our region, kindergarten places are less widely available than primary schools. We therefore provide space for up to fifteen children in each kindergarten intake, while planning for around ten to continue into each primary year. Some transitions to other schools after kindergarten are expected.
These departures were different. The children had already continued into our primary programme.
What they learned at EGI remains theirs. Their early education has not been lost. But the opportunity to build on those foundations together was interrupted, and the absence of any advance conversation made that particularly difficult.
Looking beyond the first explanation
When we asked about the changes, families cited the distance to school.
For some, the new school was closer. For others, the distance was similar. From our perspective, the explanation did not account for the whole picture. We felt we needed to understand more.
That proved difficult. Some parents were away working in Kalimantan. Internet connections were unreliable, and messages sometimes went unanswered. We also sought help from local people who could reach families and make conversation possible.
Even with those efforts, we did not obtain a complete explanation.
This is one of the hardest parts of the experience: we cannot respond to concerns we do not hear. A question about fees, recognition or a child’s future may be manageable when raised early. Once a family has made its decision and the child has left, the opportunity to work through it together is much smaller.
We want parents to be able to raise difficult questions with us. This experience showed that we need to make that communication easier and more dependable.
Families need confidence in the whole educational journey
The departures also prompted us to look closely at the uncertainties families encounter when choosing a school that is still developing.
Our primary programme is being built alongside the administrative arrangements that support it. Operating permission, accreditation and student registration involve different processes. For parents, those distinctions can be difficult to follow. What matters to them is whether their child’s education will be recognised and whether future transitions will work smoothly.
That is a reasonable concern.
We have begun working with PKBM Alfa Omega in Jakarta to help establish the administrative arrangements for our primary pupils. This work was already underway before the departures, but the processes take time. We cannot immediately provide every completed document that families would like to see.
Costs also deserve attention. Our primary fees are somewhat higher than those of some alternatives, and even a modest difference can matter to a household. Questions about access to student assistance, including Indonesia’s PIP programme, need clear answers.
We do not know whether these issues influenced the three families’ decisions. They are questions we must address in our communication, regardless.
Good classroom teaching is central to what we offer. Families also need to understand how the educational pathway works, what remains in progress and what that means for their child.
The administrative work behind a small school
We support standards that protect children and help schools operate responsibly. We also experience how demanding the associated documentation can become for a small team.
Requirements extend from educational records to detailed administrative registers, including logs of incoming and outgoing correspondence. Preparing evidence, clarifying requests and following up on outstanding steps all take time.
Individually, a requirement may appear manageable. Together, they represent a substantial workload in a school where the same few people are also teaching, supporting families and developing the organisation.
This is a practical challenge we want to discuss openly with the relevant authorities in Soe, the administrative centre of Timor Tengah Selatan.
The officials we have worked with have been friendly and helpful. Our concern is the burden created by lengthy processes and extensive requirements in a setting where resources are already stretched.
We want quality assurance to work well here. That includes asking how procedures can provide the necessary accountability while allowing small schools to devote enough time to the children they serve.
What we are changing
Our response is to strengthen both the formal arrangements and the relationships around the school.
We are giving renewed priority to outstanding permissions and student-registration processes, continuing the work with PKBM Alfa Omega and seeking direct discussions with the responsible authorities. We want a clearer understanding of the remaining steps and how to move them forward.
We are also improving communication with parents. Families need accessible explanations of our long-term approach, the current administrative position and the costs involved. They need opportunities to express concerns before those concerns become a decision to leave.
Where parents live elsewhere, we need to work more closely with the relatives or guardians caring for the child locally. Reliable communication must reach the people involved in everyday decisions as well as those making choices from a distance.
We also want a clearer, shared understanding of how school changes should be handled. If a family is considering another school, we ask for a conversation beforehand. It gives us an opportunity to listen, address misunderstandings and, where a transfer goes ahead, help make the transition orderly.
Our aim is for families to choose EGI with confidence and to keep choosing it because they understand and value the education their children receive.
A relationship worth building
We cannot decide a child’s educational future on a family’s behalf. We can take responsibility for the quality of our work, the clarity of our communication and the trust we build.
The three departures hurt because the children mattered to us. They still do. We hope they continue to learn and thrive in their new schools.
For those who remain, this experience has sharpened an important responsibility. A long-term educational vision only becomes possible when families can see a place for their children within it.
We want to build that understanding through honest conversations, dependable support and the everyday experience of a school that takes their children seriously.