Melanie Millington | G.R.E.E.N. in Europe

Children move closer to nature

Pupils at Gilwern Primary School have been excited to welcome some new friends – they are ponies!

The ponies are being looked after by the children, under the guidance of a local vet, while they are looking for a ‘forever’ home.

Opportunities like this one give pupils a chance to understand the natural world more fully and increase their confidence with dealing with other creatures.

In addition to this the school has also further developed a pond area to allow pupils to find out about water based animals such as newts, frogs and insect larvae while enjoying the health benefits of working outside.

Of course, this is possible only because of our close proximity to the Brecon Beacons National Park, an area of protected wild land. You can find out more about the park by following this link:

http://www.breconbeacons.org/

There have also been some interested ideas in the UK about claiming city spaces to creature a national park also. You can find out more about these ideas in this article:

London will become the world’s first national park city

Using the past to create the future in Wales

Regeneration – A best Practise from Wales

Regeneration projects within Wales help with the following Global Goals:

8 – Good jobs and economic growth: by reducing unemployment.

11 – Sustainable communities: By allowing activity in communities that are in a ‘post-industrial’ phase.

The Welsh Assembly Government oversees the development of these projects. For the last 50 years, since coal mining and iron-smelting came to an end here, efforts have been made to improve the lives of people living in the towns and cities that had previously relied on these industries. This work continues to this day, and will be needed for many years to come.

The national museum of Wales is committed to celebrating the industrial heritage of Wales into the future

Food is a human right – celebrating harvest in Wales

What?

1 – No poverty, 2 – Zero Hunger, 10 – Reduced Inequalities

Who? Where? When?

The Trussel Trust is a charity that operates across the UK. They aim to make sure that people do not go without food if they find they are not able to afford food due to loss of work or other changes in their circumstances. They operate ‘food banks’ across the UK. We have a local food bank in the nearby town of Abergavenny. You can read about the work of the Trussel Trust here:

https://www.trusselltrust.org

Why?

Food poverty leads to great hardship and difficulty. It affects people’s health and well being. By working together to ensure everyone is fed we are creating stronger communities. Many families give to the food bank at the supermarket and many churches help with the collection of food. At harvest time it is becoming increasingly common for school children to collect packets and tins for the food bank.

Describing the activity:

Each year in the autumn schools in Wales hold an assembly to celebrate the Harvest. Traditionally we display fruit and vegetables but this year we collected and displayed tins and packets of dried food because it can be stored for longer. We talked about how food is not shared fairly around the world.

Most children brought in a food item to create this collection. It was important that everyone felt involved in creating the gift.

Once we had bagged up all the items it was taken to the local food bank by a volunteer. The food bank needs volunteers to run the bank. This volunteer is a parent at our school.

Students help others to live sustainably – Wales -In the “Best Advertising” competition

Pupils at Gilwern Primary School learn about one important Eco-theme in each year they are at school. This way they know how to live a sustainable lifestyle when they are older. Even very young children can learn about how to do this. The children have drawn pictures and shared messages with the world.

A message from children aged 5: Ride your bike to keep the air clean.

This links to UN Global Goal 11: Sustainable cities and Communities

A message from children aged 6: Turn off running taps, don’t waste water and save the rainwater to use on the garden.

This links to UN Global Goal 6: Clean water and Sanitation

A message from children aged 7: Put your rubbish in the correct bin, send it to the recycling centre, avoid sending rubbish to landfill.

This links to UN Global Goal 12: Responsible consumption and production

A message from children aged 8: Litter on the floor can harm wild animals, many animals are dying because of plastic in the oceans, litter on the floor looks ugly – pick up litter!

This links to UN Global Goal 15: Life on Land

A message from children aged 9: Eat at least 5 different fruit and vegetables every day, drink plenty of clean water, eat only small amounts of unhealthy food.

This links to UN Global Goal 3: Good health and well-being

A message from children aged 10: Turn off lights when you leave a room empty, turn your TV, phone, iPad and game console off when you are not using it, don’t turn the classroom lights on unless they are really needed.

This links with UN Global Goal 7: Affordable and clean energy

A message from children age 11: Respect and value diversity, understand that everyone is different, take responsibility for your actions, understand how the world works.

This links to UN Global Goal 16: Peace and Justice, strong institutions.