At Novalaise middle school, 150 students from the 6th and 5th grades, wanted to act locally: first by learning more about the issue and then by taking action, in line with the Roots & Shoots 4 step model. Their learning activities included watching a film and seeing a play (the film was “Animal” by Cyril Dion and featuring Dr Jane Goodall). They also had a  field trip to nearby Lake Aiguebelette where they mapped the environment to understand the role of reed beds. Their aim was to understand how to protect this fauna. 

The students also learned about CoP26 and the major environmental issues, reflecting on the issues that affect them the most. They discussed issues of illegal wildlife trafficking and learned about the ForeverWild campaign. With all of their learnings, they were very ambitious and were able to implement a long list of activities and projects!

The projects included the creation of songs in small groups on environmental themes, which the group presented in front of their school.

Then, they wanted to tackle the importance of sorting and recycling for the environment, for people and animals. In the framework of “Forest is calling” they organized a big collection of small electronic equipment that was out of use or still working but without use so that others could recover it. The rest was either used in plastic art projects or taken to the waste disposal centre by members of the group.

The group also wanted to collect a “Christmas package” for homeless people for the holidays with a warm garment, a sweet treat, a card of brotherhood: about sixty packages were made.

At the beginning of March, they organised a collection of hygiene products and basic necessities for a convoy to help Ukrainian families, followed by a rice bowl meal. They raised nearly 500 euros for the Red Cross.

Working with their school catering staff, the group also created a vegetable garden and asked for and generalised the use of compost. 

Amazing work Novalaise Middle School!