Activities 2015 - 2016

Activities in Junior High School number 2 in Katowice:

1. Work conducted on eco-topics during Biology and Geography classes

2. Projects conducted on forest's structure and functions

3. "Tree day" - on 10th October (the project is conducted yearly) - creating tree models and planting trees in front of the school

4. Projects on recycling - "We clean the world" action

5. Multimedia presentations created by students on the nature reserves in students' surroundings

6. Students' presentations on Polish National Parks

7. Herbariums – students produce notebooks full of leaves and describe their origins (raising awareness on the richness of flora around them)

Eco activities in Konopnicka Upper Secondary School:

1. Study on lead and cadmium concentrations in the air by using moss balls - 3 students actively took part in this research project conducted from November 2015 to January 2016. Students hanged moss balls on trees for two months in order to check the pollution level in the area, samples are being sent to laboratories in Finland for further tests.

2. Study on sulphur dioxide concentration in the air - The Pine Needle Project was conducted by 10 students who collected pine needles from particularly polluted forests to study sulphur dioxide concentration in the samples.

3. Air Quality Programme – 8 students assessed air quality on the basis of bio-indicators such as fir, rhytisma acerinum and lichen. Students analyzed the above mentioned bio-indicators for a few months and then prepared posters featuring the results, which they presented to the rest of the students.

4. Participating in the Low-stack Emission Program which focuses on raising awareness – a cycle of lectures on the influence of pollution on our health and on the local environment combined with workshops teaching eco-awareness were organized.

Activities and actions we do regularly:

Our school has been one of the ASP UNESCO network associated schools for almost 22 years. We are also an active member of the Baltic Sea Project Schools through which we deal with environmental issues and raise young people’s awareness on environmental protection.

Our students join science related events all year long. Some of the most important science related events we took part in have already been mentioned above. Other events we participated in were: the organization of the National Ecology Olympiad’s final by our school, a visit at Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw and many others. We also took part in many field trips and excursions where we combined learning with admiring nature and taking care of the planet.

We take care of our students’ sustainable development by promotion of health and healthy lifestyle – for example : “PE lesson is cool, excluded from theory”. They deal with promotion of Volleyball at school, taking part in all kinds of sports events and competitions at local, national and, for some students, even international level. By adopting a healthy and sustainable lifestyle we take care of the planet.

We promote charity actions in our school and support charity organisations in many ways. Apart from many charitable actions through which we supported children from poor backgrounds, children with health problems, children from orphanages we also help some charity organisations caring for animals, such as dog shelters (Dog Action which takes place annually) or the local zoo where we sponsor food for the lemurs.

We also take care of health by cooperating with Medical University of Silesia (visiting the University, taking part in lectures and visiting laboratories). Furthermore, we organised lectures at our school within the program called Academy for Young Doctors where doctors presented some interesting aspects of their medical career and also described some modern health hazards.

In March 2016 a group of 36 students participated in an excursion to Upper-Silesian Waterworks Company where they visited the new laboratory for testing water quality together with 6 physical and chemical tests laboratory rooms where water is analysed in terms of quality, micro-biology, hydro-biology and chromatography.

A group of 30 students visited the local Sewage Treatment Plant to raise awareness on how to help the planet through proper water management.

We collect plastic bottle caps for recycling purposes. The aim is to collect as many of them as possible and a charity organisation then sends them to the people who sponsor wheelchairs for people in need. By engaging in eco-actions like this one, we help not only the planet but first of all disabled people.

We also recycle in our school and promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Within Let’s Take Care of the Planet (LTCP) students decided to plant some flowers on the school’s flower bed. Planting flowers in a public space strengthened the students’ responsibility for creating a pleasant space for every citizen. Moreover, the participants in this action managed to create a friendly relationship while planting flowers around our school. They prepared a short film which you can watch here.

Activities 2013 - 2014

2 schools participated this year. There was no regional conference, but the Let’s Take Care of the Planet activities were carried out in the framework of BSP activities.

Activities 2012-2013

The two schools that participated last year are following the Let's Take Care of the Planet process this year, developing local activities.

Activities 2011-2012

The Let’s take Care project in Poland was developed in 2011-2012 in 2 schools from Kolobrzeg and Katowice.

Participation to Brussel’s European Conference (May 2012) : 2 delegates, 1 facilitator

Local Project : What we do to Save the Planet

Activities based on 2 topics:

-       Water quality measurement: Samples of water were taken from two different places in the Baltic Sea to measure the quantity of phosphorus and nitrate in the water.

-       Air quality: The content of sulphur was measured in a laboratory, after collecting it (Pine Needle and Moss Balls methods). We assessed the damages caused by acid rains and analyzed the contained heavy metals.

The students also participated these years, within the BSP network, in a number of international activities including environmental courses in Finland, Denmark and Germany. In our ecology club we also do other kinds of activities such as coast watch (changes of the coastline – reasons and means of protection), bird counting, planting trees etc.

Górnośląskie  Przedsiębiorstwo Wodociągów S. A. (Upper-Silesian Water-Supply Company) has 3 accredited laboratories which deal with water testing. Students from Konopnicka Upper-secondary School in Katowice from first grades with biology-chemistry specialisation had a chance (on 20^th and 21^st September 2016) to visit the newest and very well-equipped laboratory in Katowice in Żeliwna Street. Students saw the work in 6 labs for physical and chemical water testing, got to know the tasks of the lab for micro-biological and hydrological analyses and prepared the indication of smell and taste of water in the lab for sensory analyses. There were very interesting lectures and workshops conducted by the employees of the laboratory which showed the functioning of the laboratory and helped to understand better the importance of the good quality of drinking water.