Eko Skola 2013-2014

Eko Skola Action Plan

The Eko Skola programme at Zabbar Primary A is now in its sixth consecutive year. The committee was elected at the beginning of this scholastic year. This year the committee is made up of fourteen pupils, five pupils from Year 1 and nine pupils from Year 2. Despite the tender age of the children, the members voted for particular roles in the committee such as President, PRO and Secretary, thus democratising the process of decision making. This year these pupils are being assisted by Ms Abigail Piscopo and Ms Romina Coreschi together with Ms Anna Napier (Assistant Head) and Ms Elizabeth Jones (Assistant Head).

The Eko Skola Committee 2013-2014

PRESIDENT:	Emily Jones
VICE PRESIDENT:	Jake Pisani
SECRETARY:	Leonella Galea
VICE SECRETARY:	Nedved Silvio
MEMBERS:	Amy Caruana; Isabelle Enright; Cleavon Galea; Dean Galea; Isaac Gatt; Zael Mifsud; Joenis Angel Mizzi; Chassedy Scicluna; Faye Zerafa.

The School’s Eco Code

: The members of the Eko Skola Committee were introduced.

: The children talked about their respective roles.

: The Eko Skola Committee introduced the Eko Code during assembly.

Wrapping Christmas Presents with the Environment in Mind

We usually celebrate happy occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and Christmases by giving gifts. Generally, these gifts are wrapped in decorative gift wrappings made of paper. Unfortunately, this tradition produces vast amounts of waste. For instance about half of the 85 million tons of paper that Americans use each year goes for packaging, wrapping and decorating goods. Wrapping paper and shopping bags alone make up 4 million tons of the paper used.

During this festive season our school is going to promote more sustainable wrapping methods. These methods will hopefully help reduce the amount of unnecessary waste generated during the Christmas holidays.

Making Crafts using recycled materials

This hand puppet was made from worn out bed slippers and a piece of cloth.

These trinket boxes were made from empty cosmetic and hair conditioner containers. Then, they were decorated with items obtained from worn out hair accessories.

: Myrrh

: Gold

: Incense

The gifts of the Three Kings used during the school concert in class 1.2 (Ms F. Debono, Ms M. Craus and Ms C. Copperstone). The first gift was made out of the base of a panettone container. This was then decorated with pieces of tinsel and a detergent cap (myrhh). The gold box was made from an empty box of cat food. The box was then painted gold and decorated with tinsel. The incense jar was made out of a plastic water bottle. This bottle was then painted silver and decorated with haberdashery remnants.

Using water hippos to save water

Water and Waste consumption

Water Hippos are simple water saving devices that help conserve water in toilet cisterns. The typical family uses 70% of their water in the bathroom, with toilet flushing accounting for 30% of the household water use. Every time a toilet is flushed the Water Hippo saves up to 3 litres of water. When using water hippos schools, colleges and business environments could save up to 6,000 litres of water per pupil/employee each year.

Since many toilets will flush just as effectively with less water, the Eko Skola committee decided to put hippos in the school’s toilet cisterns.

The Eko Skola Committe used plastic bottles instead of Water Hippos.

: The children filled the bottles with water.

: The handyman showed the children how to place the bottles in the cisterns.

Catch the Drop Campaign

A very interesting activity related to the importance of water was carried out with all Year 2 classes on Friday, 7^th February 2014. This was delivered by HSBC representatives Ms Antonia Farrugia and Mr Jason Farrugia. The EkoSkola committee together with Ms Abigail Piscopo and Ms Romina Coreschi were also invited to attend.

Emphasis was made on the lack of resources, especially those related to water, in the third world countries. It was explained that in these countries, water is considered a luxury in contrast to our situation where finding water in every household is taken for granted. Students were therefore made aware of the necessity to reduce water consumption and they were encouraged to give their own opinion on what can be done to save water.

A simplified version of the water cycle was delivered by means of a presentation and further enhanced by a demonstration of water in its various states (solid, liquid and gas).

The team also explained about the HSBC grant by means of which our school has been granted a sum of money. This will be used to buy pumps which will extract and utilise water from a reservoir beneath the school yard.

The students were given a booklet with various activities related to the topic and a ruler with useful information about water.

SpongeBob Catches the Last Drop

The whole school from Kinder 1 to Year 2 took part in an interactive show organised by Harlequin Entertainment that focused on water-conservation. The main characters, Sponge Bob and his friend the pirate involved the pupils in singing and movement activities to find the treasure above all treasures: WATER