Let’s discover the three finalists of the Educational establishment category!

• Acoustic Panels from recycled material implemented by St. George British International School, in Leioa;

The students of St. George’s British International School collected old towels and scraps of material to fill in and cover the acoustic panels in the canteen. The students conducted an analysis to determine which area of the school was the most problematic, and it was determined that the canteen was the area that could generate the most noise. Once the area of operation was determined, they investigated possible reusable materials for soundproofing. Textiles were found to have a high capacity to minimise noise, including towels.

• Mar de Peces implemented by CP Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, in Gijón;

Under the title “Mar de peces” (A sea full of fish), the original idea of this project was to eliminate plastics from the students’ snacks, aiming for a zero waste playground. Firstly, as an environmental activity, a litter clean-up was organised on the beach with the aim of raising awareness among students and their parents of the problem of marine litter pollution, especially plastics. Later, the school became a sea to which each child brought a fish made with their families, with recycled fabrics, thus linking it to the topic of this year’s edition. When they bring a piece of plastic in their snack, it ends up in their classroom’s school of fish, to raise awareness of marine litter. With the leftover fabrics, the pupils, divided into classes, made Christmas decorations for the school Christmas tree. They even gave the fabrics a new life, using them to make the feathers and the body of the Dove of Peace.

Candidate’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuEi_IMgei0  

• ÖKO DIVATHÉT-ECO FASHION WEEK implemented by Erika Csákvölgyi (Kétegyházi Márki Sándor Elementary School), in Kétegyháza.

The ECO Fashion Week in Kétegyháza (South-East Hungary) was organised for the third time in 2022, and it has quickly become an awaited and successful annual program. The ECO Fashion Week is a five-day-long program designed for 12- to 18-year-old students. The program aimed to raise awareness and sensitise about the impact of fashion on the environment, promote the reuse of clothes, and eliminate negative attitudes towards second-hand clothing. The program included a range of activities, such as demonstrating the harmful effects of the clothing industry, finding and learning about solutions, experiential pedagogy, special events promoting reusing second-hand clothes, D.I.Y. workshops, textile dyeing, factory visits, and more.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdJVk5daqbM 

The jury member of this category is Noelia Cantero, European Association of Regional & Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning