Bronze Certificate Ceremony
On the 9th of November, the European School held a ceremony at the Secondary School to celebrate its achievement of the bronze certificate for eco-schools.
Message from the Green Club:
As the green club, we strive to better every aspect of the school. We hope to improve the energy systems, garden, reputation and a number of other aspects of the European school. A bit over a year ago, we joined eco-schools, which is an international organisation that focuses on improving sustainability and setting the groundwork so that the school can autonomously work together to create a better environment and school. There are numerous topics we could choose from to focus on during our path towards a sustainable school. We chose to focus on energy and waste as we consider these the most prominent issues we contribute to as a school. The goal in the eco-schools programme is achieving the green flag, which symbolises a sustainable school.
Last year, we worked very hard to earn the bronze certificate which is the first step towards the flag. We achieved this milestone by organising fundraising events that helped us raise awareness and donate to sustainable charities, we participated in the “Warmetruiendag”, a day where heating is shut down to cut down on energy usage and we included our fellow classmates in our journey towards a better school by raising awareness on different topics amongst the younger years.
Our next step towards the green flag is the silver certificate. We hope to achieve this by setting bigger projects into action. Some of our plans are starting a small garden to encourage students to work together to achieve a common goal, starting a compost and adding new recycling bins so students actively think about what happens to their trash and therefore consider this in and out of school. We also hope to encourage more efficient energy usage, invest in sustainable energy and encourage green transport.
We are proud of what we have achieved so far and look forward to continuing working on the exiting projects that lie ahead.
One of our students: Henrik Thomas was interviewed by Lily-Anne Stroobach, journalist at Dutchbuzz.
Introduction read by the presenter:
“The European School of The Hague has taken up the challenge of making their two schools more sustainable and eco-friendly. The secondary school recently received a bronze sustainability certificate thanks to the work done by members of its Green Club. Dutchbuzz asked Green Club member Henrik Thomas what motivated him and his club to continue their efforts for the school.”