News from schools
Tenth edition of River Day in Legazpi
21 September 2013 saw the 10th celebration of Legazpi River Day and to mark the occasion different activities were carried out thanks to the help from the town hall, schools, various local associations, Ingurugela and URA.
Many residents take part every year, this year there were 140, of which 61% were students, and they collected 660 kilos of rubbish, less than half of what they collected ten years ago.
In addition, as it was the 10th anniversary, several special events were held. On the one hand, to raise awareness amongst the population about the importance of the river two permanent panels were placed next to it, developed by the lecturer of the UPV-EHU postgraduate course on Sustainable Development, Maru Lecuona, and the expert from the Basque Water Agency, Victor Peñas, gave a talk in the square about the importance of conservation.
Within the School Agenda 21 programme, several panels made by students were put up around the river to inform about invasive plants, and Yoana Garcia, responsible for Aranzadi Science Society, offered an explanation about them.
On the other hand, the theme of the outdoor painting competition was also the river, and on the same day, young people from the Youth Service painted graffiti in favour of the river.
Finally, from 26th September to 10th October, the Ibaialde exhibition was open to the public at the Cultural Centre. In this sense, we should remember that River Day received the Udalsarea 21 Award in 2012, for preserving this activity which highlights a stance in favour of the environment by society and, especially, by students. Besides having a great time, participants helped to improve the quality of the river by collecting plastic, metal and other waste.
Legazpi River Day Commission
Sustainable development in educational centres.
This European initiative has been carried out for two academic courses and has enabled students to work with students from other countries and, in addition, to travel to the UK, Italy and France, acquiring and sharing knowledge and competence skills in favour of sustainable development.
The initiative, launched by the Nicolás Larburu Higher Vocational Training College in Barakaldo in collaboration with schools in the UK, Italy, France and Germany and which involves about 60 members of staff and students of the middle level of Administrative Management, has been developed through "La oficina ecológica" (The green office) project, within the Comenius European educational and cultural programme.
In addition to representatives of Nicolás Larburu, the project also receives the collaboration of teaching staff and students from the following schools : Kaufmännische Schulen (Hanau, Germany), Ormiston Victory Academy (Norwich, UK), Licée Professionnel Jean-Durroux (Ferrières, France) and Instituto di Instruzione Secondaria Superiore Statale Michele Dell'Aquila (San Ferdinando di Puglia, Italy).
It is held over two academic years and allows pupils to work with students from other countries and also to travel to the UK, Italy or France, acquiring and sharing knowledge and skills for sustainable development. It has a triple objective of becoming more aware about caring for the environment, highlighting bad practices and defining good practices, by adopting eco-citizen attitudes.
During their time in Barakaldo, the students have defined, with the help of teaching staff, a Decalogue of good practices expressed in a video that addresses issues such as the factors that contribute to improving the environment in the educational and professional field (heating, electricity, lighting, colours, vegetation, etc.), rational management of the purchase of materials and consumables, recycling of materials and consumables and tangible and intangible communication systems (informed choice, internet or other methods of information flow).
Nicolás Larburu Higher Vocational Training College in Barakaldo
Consumer group at Ikastola San Bizente.
A revolutionary project aimed at changing urban models through the participation of children in the urban design and governance
A year ago we launched the idea for three reasons: the dynamics are in line with the school's philosophy of life, we want to enjoy healthy, quality products produced with care and, in short, we believe in the need to consume responsibly. Besides being organic, the products are locally sourced allowing us to boost the economy of the area and avoid transport costs. This way, our work was fully incorporated in the School Agenda 21, so we were all in agreement.
Anyone who could join the consumer group received an e-mail with a form on which to inform us about the products available and their prices. After everyone has sent their order on-line, the farmers bring us several baskets to the school every Monday. The baskets look very attractive after the 4th and 5th year primary students painted them! Everyone comes to collect their basket and leaves the money in the box, easy isn't it?
Similarly, parents support the activities by coming to the school one weekday and the family's involvement means that students become more involved too. On the other hand, in the future we would like the children to be in charge of selling the products and helping us to prepare the baskets with products from the school vegetable garden. Interesting, isn't it? The success of the initiative has led us to invite more producers and we are already planning to add bread, honey or organic pulses to the basket. We will keep you informed about where this path of responsible consumption leads us. Until then, bon appétit!
Ikastola San Bizente de Oyón
