Teachers and students from six European countries recently visited St Benedict College, Għaxaq Primary School.
Staff and pupils at the school have just started a two-year environmental project with their link schools in Turkey, Portugal, Poland, Italy, the UK, Spain and Romania. The project is entitled 'Mission: Clean Earth'.
The first meeting was held last November in Bolu, Turkey. The aim of this project is to instil a sense of belonging to the Earth as a whole.
Students came up with ideas on how we can help make Earth a better place to live.
The school started reducing waste by buying recycled paper and making use of both sides. It also joined the Eko Skola scheme through which students learn how to improve both the environment at school as well as in the school's locality. The school also adopted a 'no to plastic bags' policy, where students bring their snack in a lunch box.
Students were also urged to reuse things before throwing them away. Year 6 students researched different ways of re-using plastic bottles. Students also worked upon the importance of recycling. At home they started collecting common recyclable materials like glass, paper, aluminium and steel and then they visited bring-in sites and learnt how to separate their waste.
Representatives of Wasteserv Malta were invited to the school to deliver talks to students about waste management. Year 5 students also visited one of the Civic Amenity Sites in Ħal Far.
Visitors from schools in foreign countries had the opportunity to visit Mdina, Valletta, Marsaxlokk, Wied iż-Żurrieq, the prehistoric temples and Gozo.
An event was also held where the different representatives delivered a varied set of presentations about the subject, showing their different perspectives.
The Year 6 students delivered a Powerpoint presentation about their life at school and environmental awareness; Year 5 pupils presented a dramatic presentation entitled The Weeping Earth.
This was written by Trevor Zahra and adapted into Maltese by the school's assistant head, Deo Grech.
The next meeting will be held in Enna, Sicily in November.