Environmental Day

 

Events

Our very existence, health and wellbeing depend largely on the quality of our environment; and it is our God-given responsibility to care for our earth. In line with this mandate, the Beacon School family observes an annual ‘Environmental Day’ to care for our surroundings and reinforce practices that ensure green sustainability for present and future generations. The Beacon School campus is a beautiful garden with lots of trees, shrubs, flowers and lawns; most of which was planted during past Beacon Environmental Day events.

The 2023 Beacon Environmental Day event was held on Friday, 3rd March, 2023. Excited students and staff members arrived at school appropriately dressed for the work that lay ahead. We received an overview of the day’s plan from the Beacon School ‘Head of Events’ and were then grouped according to our School Teams for various tasks. Teams 1 and 2 watered and fertilized the trees and shrubs in school whilst Teams 3 and 4, armed with large black bin bags and disposable gloves, picked litter in the school, up to the car park and along road from the school to main Peduase School Junction.

Whilst the Teams were hard at work, a delegation of selected students from the Primary, Junior High, Lower Secondary, Upper Secondary, and the Advanced levels of the school, along with the Vice Principal and 2 other staff members, donated four large waste bins to the Kitase community. The waste bins were received on behalf of the Kitase Assemblyman by the Headmaster of the Kitsae L/A school. Two of the bins will be situated on the Kitase L/A school compound whilst the other 2 are placed at vantage points in the community. The delegation also put up some posters in the Peduase and Kitase communities to create awareness on climate change and the need to save the environment. These posters were designed by Year 12 students.

After the activities above were complete, all the groups came together in school for a well-deserved snack break after which Ms Stephanie Nkansah of A Rocha Ghana educated us on the importance of and our role in wildlife and environmental preservation. A short competition was then held where the students were shown pictures of some wild animals and asked to identify them. A student impressively identified a rare animal – the pangolin. This short competition was followed by some creative art activities and then we paused for lunch.

After lunch, Ms Sussana Quansah from SESA Recycling Ltd. educated us on the four ‘R’s of Waste Management: Refuse; Reduce; Reuse; Recycle. SESA Recycling Ltd. also donated with a large plastic bottle collection bin (a metallic cage) to promote recycling in the school.

In preparing for the 2023 Beacon Environmental Day event, each class had been asked to come up with alternative uses for waste materials, instead of throwing them away. After Ms Sussana’s presentation, representatives from each class presented their innovations to the rest of the school. Below is a table of the student’s projects and the waste materials used to make them.

 

Year 2’s project was adjudged the best overall. They turned their waste items into teaching and learning materials about the environment. Congratulations to Year 2 and to all the other classes for the time, thought and hard work put into creating their innovations!

The 2023 Beacon Environmental Day event was refreshing and motivating. By the end of the day, it was clear to us that everyone can contribute to improving our environment. We pledged to play our part to secure our future, and to teach others to do same.