Eco-Schools Newsletter May 2018

Newsletter May 2018

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Welcome to the Eco-Schools newsletter for May 2018!

Finally, find below what we've recently been up to at FEE Head Office in Copenhagen.

You can download two brilliant activity guides released by Green Schoolyards America and read about the great achievement of two of our schools in Saudi Arabia!

Featured this month is our National Operator in Romania, Razvan Dinca. Read the interview below! Scroll down to download materials on SDG15 - Life on land, and discover how to take part in the Outdoor Classroom Day and the Green Olympiad 2018. Not to be missed!

With Global Action Days taking place, April was a month full of energy and excitement for Eco-Schools. We are both proud and impressed by the response of our schools - together we were able to realise over 250 great initiatives internationally. Your engagement and passion continue to amaze and inspire us. We would like to thank all of the participants for embracing Global Action Days with such enthusiasm and for the great actions you organised and delivered!

Enjoy reading and don't forget to share the newsletter with your network and tag us @EcoSchoolsInt @FEEEcoCampus

Nicole & Serena

Global Actions Days have been a blast!

From South Africa to Bulgaria, from Portugal to Puerto Rico...tens of thousands of students have taken part in global actions for the environment! Promoting organic farming techniques, planting, advocating, cleaning, researching and upcycling are only a few of the hundreds of actions our schools organised last month. Join our Global Action Days Facebook group to see for yourself!

Interviews with Eco-Schools National Operators:
Razvan Dinca from CCDG (Romania)

Razvan is based in Bucharest where he works as Head of Programmes at CCDG, together with six other colleagues.

A high point of the programme, hopes and visions

The high point of the programme is the change of mentality. My hope is that we can keep the vast network of Eco-Schools for the next ten years.

Activities by CCDG

We organise teacher training sessions, planting sessions, workshops and audits.

Read the full interview here .

Sustainable Development Goal 15:
LIFE ON LAND

SDG15 Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. Find teaching materials and other educational resources here.

MORE NEWS

Outdoor Classroom Day!

Outdoor Classroom Day is a global campaign to celebrate and inspire outdoor learning and play. On May 17, thousands of schools around the world will take lessons outdoors including playtime. In 2017, over 2 million children in over 100 countries took part. Get involved!
Sign up here!

Activity guides to make the most out of your school yard!

Green Schoolyards America has just realeased the 2018 International School Grounds Month Activity Guide and the Living Schoolyard Activity Guide. The guides are designed to help schools use their grounds to the fullest during the month of May for International School Grounds Month and all year round! The two guides include 235 activities submitted by 187 organisations in 27 countries. All of the activities in both guides are intended for use anywhere in the world. Enjoy!

Green Flag award!

We are pleased to share this great news! The British International School Riyadh – both the Main and Salwa Campuses in Saudi Arabia have been awarded the Green Flag! Congratulations to all the students and teachers for the time and effort that has been invested in environmental education. Keep up the good work!

Don't miss:
Green Olympiad 2018!

GREEN Olympiad is an annual written examination on environmental issues for school students. It is designed innovatively to test the knowledge of students, as well as educate and create awareness in the process. Initiated by The Energy and Resources Institute in 1999, the exam attracts participation from school students across India and all over the world from grades IV to X. Last day for registration: 31 July 2018.

Find out more and register here!

What is cooking at Eco-Schools International

Earlier last month, we were in London for a FEE EcoCampus meeting with the National Union of Students, the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges and our National Operators in the UK and Ireland to explore collaboration opportunities.

We participated in a Benchmarking Advisory Group meeting with Eco-Schools representatives from Belgium, Scotland and Singapore to discuss Green Flag standardisation strategies and improve our effectiveness on the ground.

We took part in two Eco-Schools African Network meetings, bringing together FEE/Eco-Schools member organisations from nine sub-Saharan African and Indian Ocean countries working together to identify shared challenges and a common action plan.