WESSA Schools Programme Annual Report 2019/2020

CHANGES FROM THE PROGRAMME

Our school’s biggest change over the years has been reaching out to help members of the community who less fortunate than ourselves. We have always donated things to different organisations but 2019 was a bit of a turnaround. We started building and nurturing relationships with old age homes in our area and 2019 became the biggest year for building our social responsibility programme.

Financial constraints, however, have left us unable to undertake any more than just a basic renovation of the main school building. PROJECTS AND PRACTICES Part of our ongoing philosophy has been to recycle, reuse and reduce . We have created ‘Swop-Markets’ and keep the environmental awareness agenda alive within the parent body. Our preschool curriculum follows the Eco-calendar and we teach the children relevant environmental facts, believing that one day they will be the ones that will make a difference.

Our school has grown, with our children reaching elementary age. We now offer an age 9-12 upper- elementary curriculum as well as the age 6-9 lower elementary environment. Most of the elementary children who have been with us since they were toddlers, are now eco-warriors in their own right! The children attend climate change marches and avidly study plants, animals and natural science in our outdoor environment.

FUTURE PLANS This year we were planning to focus on climate change and the importance of its effect on the Earth. We had begun to involve the Elementary children, bringing them in to become part of the Eco Committee, which would allow them to start leading the environmental projects. Unfortunately, due to the situation with Covid-19, many of our plans have been put on pause until further notice.

WESSA Schools Programme | Stories of Change | 2019/2020 63