TIF Highlights: December 2025 to February 2026

Quarterly Update

After a long end-of-year break for students and teachers, our programs resumed in January with renewed energy. Students at our Learning Centres began a new learning unit focused on mangrove ecosystems, while also taking part in a Sports Day and a performing arts workshop with Evolve. During the quarter we also connected with parents, delivered teacher training sessions, and travelled to Singapore to meet with our partners at UWCSEA.

Annual Board Offsite

Every year, our Board and senior leadership team come together to reflect on our progress and align on priorities for the year ahead as we continue working toward our Vision 2030 goals. This year, the offsite was held on Nikoi Island, where discussions focused on how we can strengthen our programmes, respond to barriers that families and communities face in accessing learning, and thoughtfully test new ideas while staying grounded in our community-centred approach.

We were also very grateful to be joined by guest speakers Firdaus Sani and Fadilla Mutiarawati Apristawijaya (Kak Dila). Firdaus shared perspectives on the importance of cultural visibility and advocacy for Orang Laut communities, adding valuable insight to our conversations. Kak Dila shared her experiences and the challenges of working with Indigenous communities within the broader education landscape in Indonesia, providing TIF with invaluable insights and takeaways for our work.

Learning Centres

Learning Centre Highlights

This quarter’s learning unit, “Adventures in the Mangrove Ecosystem,” combined field observations, experiments, and creative projects to help students understand how mangroves support coastal communities and protect the environment.

Students explored the topic through storytelling, mapping, building dioramas, and even establishing small mangrove nurseries. These activities encouraged curiosity while helping students connect environmental concepts to their everyday lives on the islands.

Despite the December school break, in Q3 we delivered 453 classes with 618 hours of teaching to 544 students enrolled across our 13 Learning Centres.

Evolve Performing Arts Workshop

In January, we hosted the team from Evolve Arts who conducted a performing arts workshop for students which was aligned with the mangrove ecosystem learning unit. The session introduced acting exercises and creative performance activities, giving students a new way to express their learning.

Students were also encouraged to create their own props for the performance, fostering creativity, ownership, and collaboration. In total, 250 participants joined the workshop, including 124 students and 113 parents. 

Sports Day

Our annual Sports Day took place on 8 February across three locations. Students from all 13 of our Learning Centres participated in a series of activities that encouraged teamwork, confidence, and community spirit.

The turnout was fantastic with 506 out of our 550 enrolled students participating. It was especially encouraging to see many parents attend to support their children during the event.

Teacher Training

Our Teacher Training Program is Expanding

We are excited to announce new funding from Swiss Seaside Foundation to expand our Teacher Training program to Anambas Regency in the Riau Islands. This expansion will provide training and ongoing support to 50 primary school teachers, equipping them with practical, contextually relevant approaches to teaching and learning. By extending our educator network to new geographies, TIF continues to strengthen the foundations of community-led education systems - ensuring that more children in small island and coastal communities can access meaningful, high-quality learning opportunities.

Local Teacher Training Sessions

In January, we traveled to Lingga to deliver a Local Teacher Training session over three days with 47 teachers. The training reinforced key concepts from previous sessions, focusing on instructional design and lesson planning. In February, a second training session followed a similar format but in Bintan where 45 teachers attended.

Across both sessions, teachers focused on translating theory into classroom practice by developing structured and engaging lesson plans. Many participants demonstrated increased confidence in designing student-centred learning experiences aligned with the needs of their students. These trainings continue to support the creation of more dynamic and relevant learning environments across island communities.

Community Engagement

Community Service Learning with UMRAH

We are pleased to share that we have received support from The Moh Family Foundation to pilot a new Community Service Learning (CSL) initiative in partnership with Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji (UMRAH). Over the next 12 months, we will host two cohorts of students from UMRAH’s Department of Education and Department of Social and Political Sciences, each undertaking a semester-long placement within our programs. Recruitment started this quarter, and we are very excited to welcome the first cohort to the team!

Mobile Learning Program for Orang Laut communities

We are also grateful for the continued support of Rumah Foundation in funding a pilot of our Mobile Learning Program for Orang Laut communities. This initiative will bring TIF’s Learning for Sustainability approach to underserved Indigenous communities in Lingga and Batam, reaching five communities over the next year. Alongside delivering culturally relevant learning experiences for children, the program will invest in building the capacity of Indigenous field learning assistants - supporting local leadership, strengthening community ownership, and ensuring that learning is grounded in the knowledge, realities, and aspirations of Orang Laut communities.

Visit to UWCSEA, Singapore

In December, our program team travelled to Singapore to visit UWCSEA, where we facilitated two workshops for Grade 4 students: Getting to Know The Island Foundation and Kite Making. Both sessions were highly interactive and very well received by the students.

The visit was a valuable opportunity not only to share our work, but also to exchange ideas with educators and students in an international school setting. It offered our team insights into student-centred teaching approaches and innovative learning environments. Perhaps most importantly, it was a significant boost of confidence for the team and a great opportunity to reconnect with their mentors.

We are very grateful to UWCSEA for this opportunity and for the ongoing mentoring they continue to provide. Looking ahead, plans are underway for several collaborative activities in 2026, including mentor visits and a trip from UWCSEA students and parents to Bintan so we can return the favour and host them in Bintan.

Parent Engagement

In December, we caught up with 474 of our students' parents during Parent Information Sessions. Beyond these, 89 parents were also engaged through home visits and meetings.

These information sessions, which were held at all of our Learning Centres, provided updates on learning activities and helped families better understand the development of the 4C skills - Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration and Creativity.

We were delighted to see that the feedback from our parent surveys showed strong understanding of the program and positive observations about their children’s confidence, creativity, and teamwork. Many parents shared that they are now encouraging these skills at home through daily interactions.