I am Hiroko Deguchi who was assigned to the Principal of Sakuraidani Elementary School as of April 1, 2024. Our school was founded in March 1874 and has a history and tradition of 150 years. We are very proud of this wonderful school which is supported by the local community and the parents. Our school has a rice field on campus that was created with the cooperation of the local community, and mainly 5th graders grow rice throughout the year. They learn the joys and hardships of growing rice through planting, weeding, harvesting, and threshing. Our school is in urban areas, however, we have the feature of “school with agriculture". We make “Kadomatsu (the New Year's decorative pine trees)” in collaboration with the local residents and PTA at the end of every year. As part of this event, the 1st graders make mini-Kadomatsu. Thus the great Kadomatsu is put in front of the main gate, and it has become a tradition of the season.

  

We have in-house class in Toyonaka Municipal Hospital for hospitalized students, and we also have a special needs classroom called “Big tree” for students with disabilities. Since there is the international house of Osaka University within the school zone, we have some children of the students or the researchers from various countries. In addition, the international class that was organized by Board of Education was opened in 2009. In order to take advantage of these features, we applied for UNESCO School registration in 2010. As one of the activities, we interact with North Loburn School in New Zealand of Friendship School by using online meeting tool.

We will work continuously to foster our children based on "act correctly, strongly, brightly" of the school motto. We would appreciate your guidance and support.

Hiroko Deguchi, Principal