Eco-Schools Voices Editor’S Note

ECO-SCHOOLS VOICES EDITOR’S NOTE

Dear Eco-Schools Champions,

6 months have passed since the start of 2014 – we hope you’ve been making good progress with your Eco-Schools initiatives. Flip over for a summary of projects done by schools that applied for the Eco-Schools Grant. It may give you more ideas on what you can implement in your school! Also, head over to the Green Flag 101 section for some tips on creating your eco-code.

Did you correctly guess the new schools that have joined the Eco-Schools Programme this year? The big revelation is in the Announcement section. Find out © WWF-SINGAPORE Admiralty Primary students at the sustainable seafood how much fun some of them had at the workshop in May sustainable seafood seven-steps workshop on page 4.

Finally, check out page 5 for the highly anticipated feature on the surprise visit by Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx for an Earth Hour assembly at an eco-school!

Ms. Rabi’ah and Ms. Valerie WWF-Singapore Education Unit

wwf.sg/for_schools 1 WHAT’S BUZZING? ECO-SCHOOL GRANTS The past year saw four of the eco-schools execute environmental projects funded by grants offered by WWF-Singapore. Check out how the schools have put the funds to good use.

Kranji Secondary School created an environmental message wall and used it to showcase their school’s Eco-Code. They used recycled wood and aluminium sheets from the Design and Technology Workshops, which also saved them some money! The students bonded together well as a team, spending their holidays at the technical workshop, working on the eco-wall. © KRANJI SECONDARY SCHOOL Staff from different departments such as their Art Eco-Code displayed on their new eco-wall teacher and Design and Technical officer were brought together to guide and advise the students.

More butterfly attracting plants were placed in their garden to achieve their target of increasing the number of plants by 20%. A bird bath and the birdhouse were also built, and they saw more birds coming down to get the nectar from the flowers. Parts of the garden were decorated with butterflies made of recycled plastic salvaged from old files.

Yuhua Secondary School had a line-up of exciting activities as well. Besides the SEED project featured in the previous issue, they organised an Eco-Song Lyrics Competition. Through writing the Eco-Song lyrics, students became more aware of the school’s environment as they were tasked to create a song based on their observation of the surroundings. The students shared that they were grateful to be given the opportunity to take on leadership roles to run these projects, and the implementation of the Eco-Schools projects had raised awareness to the whole school about the importance of working together to create an eco-friendly school. They also realised that everyone can play an active role in caring for the © YUHUA SECONDARY SCHOOL environment. Yuhua Secondary’s winning entry for the Eco- Lyrics competition

2 Nan Hua High School organised a series of activities during Earth Week. The programme, organised and run by students of the eco- committee and the Infocomm Club, aimed to promote awareness in the wider community on how carbon footprint due to everyday human activities can lead to climate change. Through the activities, the students were given the chance to showcase the knowledge they have learnt during environment modules, to share their passion and enthusiasm © NAN HUA HIGH SCHOOL towards environment conservation, and also to Nan Hua High students promoting Public Transport persuade and influence the whole school to adopt Day some of the recommended eco-friendly measures.

Another initiative that the school has embarked on is the opening of an eco-garden in their school. The school hopes to garner more pupil involvement in appreciating biodiversity and growing organic local vegetables to reduce carbon footprint. Students planned a weekly schedule and roster themselves to maintain the eco-garden (such as by watering plants, loosening the soil and applying fertilisers) and plant organic vegetables for the school during Healthy Greens Day.

Commonwealth Secondary School’s approach was to focus on the theme of nature and biodiversity. The school had several green features built, of which one is a outdoor garden that facilitated outdoor learning. They also have an indoor garden that not only improved the asthetics

© COMMONWEALTH SECONDARY of the school but included QR coded plants which The indoor garden provides a natural cooling effect for this part supports students’ learning. With new features of the school added, the biodiversity in the school has improved and students can have a richer learning experience about the flora and fauna found in the school.

Come August, during Envirofest, the school will be conducting eco-tours for students from various schools who participate in the event. Envirofest consists of the Environmental Science Fair and the National Green Competitions.

3 © WWF-SINGAPORE © WWF-SINGAPORE Playing a game in a stream at the Sustainable Living Kampong Using the Singapore Seafood Guide to check which category seafood is in SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD 7-STEPS WORKSHOP

A total of 25 students from Ang Mo Kio Secondary, Back at the kampong, it was time to explore how Chong Boon Secondary and Admiralty Primary the seven steps can be used to plan campaigns for participated in WWF’s Sustainable Seafood 7-steps raising awareness on sustainable seafood. Through workshop held at WOW Kampong in May 2014. brainstorming on how they could spread the The one and a half day workshop aimed to provide message and take action on conserving the oceans, an introduction to the seven-step process of the the students were able to generate ideas that were Eco-Schools Programme, as well as offer guidance both exciting and practical. on how to draw up an action plan based on the Sustainable Seafood topic.

The training of leadership skills was infused throughout the workshop to empower the students to lead the programme back in school. Through the video presentation and games that followed, students discovered the devastating effects of large-scale, modern fishing methods such as super- trawlers and fish-aggregating devices (FADs) on the oceans. They also learnt about how such fishing methods resulted in wasteful by-catch. It is hoped that students would come to realise that they have an important role to play as stewards of Earth in general, and of the oceans in particular. © WWF-SINGAPORE The workshop continued on the second day with Students of Admiralty Primary giving their presentation exercises to familiarise them with the seven-step process, including a visit to check out seafood At the end of the workshop, a notable number sold in local supermarkets. At the supermarket, of students expressed their appreciation for the armed with the WWF-Singapore Seafood Guide, opportunities to work on their confidence, such students tried to locate seafood products falling in as presenting their findings to everyone at the green, orange, and red groups as classified in the workshop. guide. Students observed that many of the seafood products did not carry the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) eco-labels.

4 SPIDERMAN SWINGS BY AN ECO-SCHOOL Andrew Garfield and Jamie Foxx – star cast of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – sprang a surprise visit on Commonwealth Secondary School on 28 March! Check out exclusive photos of the visit below.

Disguised as an ordinary Earth Hour assembly, the students had no idea what was coming their way until Jamie Foxx and Andrew Garfield walked into their school hall – immediately eliciting estatic screams! Besides thrilling students with their mere presence, the actors were also there to spread the word and inspire the students on environment sustainability.

© WWF-SINGAPORE “We are all sharing this planet. It’s The student leaders of Commonwealth up to us to take care of it. It’s our responsibility.” – Andrew Garfield Secondary Green Club shared about the school’s green initiatives, and brought the stars on a tour of their school’s eco- features. Jamie Foxx was so impressed that he tweeted about his visit.

To commemorate this very special Earth Hour celebration in their school, two trees were planted in the school by Andrew and Jamie with the students. We are sure that it was a memorable experience for all staff and students at Commonwealth Secondary, and will inspire them to do even more to spread the Earth Hour message of environmental sustainability Jamie Foxx was so impressed that he tweeted about his visit to the school all year round.

5 EXTRA POWER PACK SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD STUDENT GUIDE

Need some inspiration to kickstart your planning for a sustainable seafood campaign? Check out our Student Guide for some simple but effective ideas on what you can do in school!

Find out more about our Sustainable Seafood campaign at picktherightcatch.com. GREEN FLAG 101 – ECO-CODE

Having an eco-code is a great way to summarise your project and tell people in a creative way what it is all about!

Everyone in the school should Display your Eco-Code in Discuss your Eco-Code at your be aware of the Eco-Code and important rooms in the school. next assembly, include it in your understand its meaning, so you Some of these places can be the next newsletter or start your next should involve the whole school teachers’ staff room, canteen, committee meeting with it to in the process of creating a new student common areas so that all remind others of the Eco-Code. code. groups in the school will know about it!

6 SAVE THE DATE 22nd July 29th July Eco-Schools Ceremony International Tiger Day

The ceremony aims to celebrate the successes The wild tiger population has dropped 97% of the programme in the past year, as well as over the last hundred years. With as few as welcome new schools. We will also be making 3,200 wild tigers left, bold and immediate an announcement about an exciting new action is needed. Find out how you can help at development in the programme. Look out for http://giftcatalogue.wwf.sg. more information coming your way.

12th August 22nd September World Elephant Day World Rhino Day Elephant populations have been severely Don’t buy rhino horn products. Illegal trade in depleted, largely due to the massive ivory rhino horn is a continuing problem, posing one trade. While some populations are now stable, of the greatest threats to rhinos today. Your poaching and habitat destruction continue to tip-offs are important to helping the wildlife. threaten the species. Say no to illegal wildlife Here’s how to look out for these telling signs trade! Sign the pledge: http://bit.ly/1etDSSC indicating illegal wildlife trading: http://bit. ly/1x9kF4r ANNOUNCEMENTS We want to extend our warmest welcome to the new schools that’ve joined the Eco-Schools Programme this year. These schools are:

• Admiralty Primary School • Ang Mo Kio Secondary School • Canadian International School (Lakeside campus) • Chong Boon Secondary School • ITE College West

Congratulations to the following schools that have attained the Eco-Schools Awards! Anchor Green Primary School Commonwealth Secondary School Shuqun Primary School Nan Hua High School Yuhua Secondary School Woodgrove Secondary School

Drop us a line Have you got any burning questions on Eco-Schools for us? Do you have any feedback or comments on the programme? Leave a post on Eco-Schools Hangout (eco-schools.wwf.sg) so we can address your question and share the answer with everyone else.

7 instructions below to fold your own Origami Fish! lines on the right side of this page. Then follow Grab a pair of scissors and cut along the dotted ORIGAMI FISH BRAIN 1 11 7 line in the dotted Fold backward Fold in the dotted line Fold in the dotted line Turn around 4 • ECO-SCHOOLS VOICES - JUNE 2014 dotted line Fold in the 12 8 Finished! TEASER Fold in the dotted line 5 the dotted line backward in Fold dotted line Fold inside in the 2 9 fold back Fold to make a crease dotted line Fold in the 3 10 dotted line Fold in the 6

and picktherightcatch.com

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