EkoSkola Newsletter Issue 2

EKOSKOLA NEWSLETTER

ISSUE 2 | 29/04/2024

EKOSKOLA ST ALOYSIUS COLLEGE, SECONDARY SCHOOL

LITTERLESS CAMPAIGN

OUR PROJECT FOR THE LITTERLESS CAMPAIGN

The EkoSkola Team observed that each year, activities organised by the school generate a lot of paper waste from envelopes and forms.

We will now be introducing reusable, durable plastic envelopes, to reduce this waste (roughly 13.3kg by the student population every year!)

THE EKOSKOLA COMMITTEE

pg2

UPDATE ON:

OLIVE OIL

TREE PLANTING FUDGE CERTIFICATE

pg3

LEAF PROJECT WORK IN THE MULTISENSORY GARDEN

pg 4

WATER CONSERVATION AT SCHOOL

pg 5

FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES & OUR LITTERLESS PROJECT

pg 6

YRE ENTRIES

pg 7, 8

THEEKOSKOLACOMMITEE

THESTUDENTS

Farewell to Form 5 Members:

President Matteo Abela

Vice-President Dale Delceppo

OTHER FORM 5 MEMBERS:

Damian Galea

Mikhail Zammit Spiteri

Dylan Farrugia

Matthias Caruana

NEW ROLES:

President Myron Chetcuti

Vice-President: Neil Camilleri

NEW MEMBERS:

Kane Buttigieg Barun

Francesco Cremona

EKOSKOLALINKTEACHERS

Ms Sasha Borg

Ms Nadia Vella

Ms Natalia Zammit

Ms Sharon Agius

Former Vice President & President

EkoSkola President

Myron Chetcuti EkoSkola Vice-President Neil Camilleri

New members are welcome to join us in our initiatives and projects! EkoSkola members have the opportunity of additional outings as well as being involved in activities within the school, such as the school’s shelter visit, earlier this year.

We meet weekly on Wednesdays (tree planting on Mondays is also an option).

Reach out to Ms. Borg, Ms. Zammit or Ms. Agius to join us :)

UPDATES FROM NEWSLETTER ISSUE 1

OLIVE OIL

25.6L of olive oil were collected from the olives collected during olive picking carried out by students and staff members.

TREE PLANTING

Tree-planting at White Tower, lArmier, by Mr. David Azzopardi.

FUDGE ADOPTION CERTIFICATE

Following the discovery of hedgehogs at our school and the awareness campaign, we adopted a hoglet. Following the release of Pearl, it was Fudge that was adopted instead.

Tree-planting

Treeplanting group EkoSkola

Vassallo Group

LEAF CAMPAIGN

WORK IN THE SCHOOL’S MULTISENSORY GARDEN

Students preserving the garden, contributing to good use of the soil and promoting biodiversity by planting, watering and weeding in the garden.

The LEAF (LEarning About Forests) Campaign encourages students to learn about different plants, and to take care of them and their environment.

Following this month’s visit from two Eco-schools teachers, who are also the LEAF coordinator and Nature Trust FEE Malta, we will also be implementing open-heap composting, by next year.

This is another project that is part of our school’s goal to take care of our common home and becoming men and women for others.

WATER CONSERVATION

Reducing water surface runoff and allowing it to filter, replenishing groundwater.

On Friday 19 January, EkoSkola students attended the official launch of the GEO-INF Rainwater Recovery Facility at St Aloysius Secondary. The installation was designed by engineer Marco Cremona and sponsored by Atlas Insurance through its Community Involvement Fund.

Students taking part in the EkoSkola programme followed Fr. Rector’s sharing on the environmental values upheld by the Catholic Church and reflected on the GEO-INF project, towards our school’s goal of taking action to take care of our common home and becoming men and women for others.

EkoSkola students also had a short session of observing the temporary collection of rainwater and the filtering system. Students then asked Ing. Cremona questions on the project.

FUND-RAISING EVENTS

LITTERLESS PROJECT

From the funds raised this year:

Fudge was adopted. Food for the rabbits in the multisensory garden was purchased. The reusable envelopes for the litterless project are being purchased for the school community.

The reusable envelopes will be given for free.

A refundable €2 deposit will be requested. This will be returned once the reusable envelope is returned in Form 5.

Forms 1 and 2 will be the first to start with this new system. Eventually, it will then be utilised across all the Secondary’s School student population.

We are currently seeking sponsors who can help us incentivise this project by offering prizes. Students with a good record of use and maintenance of the reusable envelope will enter a raffle for the chance to win a voucher, towards the end of their journey at our school. SponsorscertifiedwithISO14001ORhavingagoodimpactonthe environmentaregreatlyencouragedtoreachout.

ENTRY 1 -

ARTICLE BY JAN CUSCHIERI VALENTINE

ENTRY 2

VIDEO PRESENTATION

BY ETHAN GEORGE

Our school students can participate in the YRE competition. The main objective is to draw attention to many environmental problems in our community You can submit more than one project and can work either individually or in groups

HowtoParticipate Calendar

Projectsforthecompetitionwere submittedbythe12ofApril2024 Thelocaljurywillnowselectthe nationalwinnersbytheendof May2024.

Internationalwinnerswillbe knowninJune2024.

Programmecriteria

EveryYREprojectmustfulfilthreeobjectives:

1) Investigate a local environmental issue and proposeasolution

2) Produce a journalistic piece (such as an article, photo, or radio report, etc)

3)Focusonalocalaudience

TypesofEntries

Article:Thearticleentriesmustnotexceed 1000wordsandcanincludephotostohelp illustratethearguments

Photo:Thephotoentries(asinglephotoora seriesof3-5photos)mustbeaccompanied byatitleandashortcaption(notlongerthat 100words)toexplainthelinktosustainable issues.

Video:Thevideomustbeamaximumof3 minutesandcompatiblewithyoutube(wewill helpyoudothisatschool)