02 April 2021 - Interview with teachers Annick De Cuyper, Sarah Lylon and Sofie Mallems of primary school Pius X Destelbergen
Destelbergen was among the first municipalities to stimulate environmental care in schools. Teacher Annick De Cuyper witnessed the great evolution of MOS at Primary School Pius X from close by. At the start in 2002, she was alone as MOS leader. Later on she was assisted by other teachers of the primary school, the kindergarten teachers and the management. In the meantime, she can also count on the enthusiastic commitment of the pupils.
In the beginning, under the impulse of the MOS-team, the school took part in the well-known action days, such as World Water Day, Jumper Day and the GoodPlanet Challenges. There was no real pupil participation yet, but with time, the MOS team emphasised the importance of this. The school launched the 'citizens' cabinet of pupils'. Every Monday afternoon, the pupils of the cabinet met and at least one MOS theme was on the agenda every week. But this citizens' cabinet was not an immediate success: the same pupils kept turning up and the teachers felt less inspired over the years.
Creative captains at the helm
That's why, in 2020, Miss Sofie and Miss Sarah changed track. They wanted to make the meetings less obligatory and find a new name for 'the citizens' cabinet', which sounded rather heavy-handed. Together with the pupils, they renamed it 'the creative captains'.
While the citizens' cabinet only consisted of pupils of the third grade, the other grades of primary school and the pre-school children are now also being warmed up to strengthen the creative captains. The MOS team works in the following steps.
Step 1
The pupils indicate what is going on at school and what they want to work on. For example, the team made a large word spin together with the pupils. This has already resulted in some great initiatives. When choosing a theme, the talents of the children needed to realise the idea are always considered as well.
Step 2
In order to gather the right children for a certain action, teacher Sofie and teacher Sarah work with a promo week. The idea of this promo week is that the pupils are motivated to work out the action based on their own talents or interests.
During this promo week, they use a picture, a video or another trigger every day to stimulate the children. These triggers have something to do with, for example, being computer-literate, being good with language, being creative... Pupils who feel appealed to, sign up with the teacher.
Step 3
On Monday, these children are welcomed by Sofie and Sarah at the meeting of the creative captains. Instead of meeting every Monday afternoon, they now meet every month or month and a half. Because the pressure to meet every week is gone, there is always new motivation and enough time to work something out.
Step 4
All teachers, the management - and sometimes also the parents - are involved in the actions. Participation in the creative captains is optional, but the actions are carried out in all classes. This way, everyone in the school participates. Sometimes a presentation moment is organised, because the children can be proud of what they have realised. MOS lives at Pius X!
Motivation first
Working with the promo week is a big step forward, because the teachers always have a new, motivated group that really wants to get to work. What is also noticeable is that the children are very good at assessing themselves during promo week. They often only commit themselves when they are really interested, which makes the commitment during the project much higher. It is precisely this high level of involvement of the pupils that makes the project so strong.
For the project week 'Caring for Nature', teacher Sofie and teacher Sarah focused on the children of the first, second and third grade. Together with them, they wanted to set up an awareness campaign for the whole school to sort out rubbish more effectively in the playground.
During the promotion week, they were looking for children who like to play, dance, dress up, etc. They did this by hanging up pictures that had to do with caring for nature, performing, dressing up, etc. During the meeting, teacher Sofia explained that she was not the only one who was interested in this.
During the meeting, Miss Sofie and Miss Sarah explained to the interested children that together they would make an awareness-raising film about sorting rubbish for the whole school. In the film the children would show how to sort correctly to the song 'The Itchy Dance' by Wiebe.
On the day of the recording, all the children were made up and dressed in all kinds of animal costumes. Together they showed the camera how to sort waste. They really enjoyed the recording day! Afterwards, teacher Sofie edited the images into a beautiful whole and the film was shown to the whole school. This awareness-raising campaign was a great success.
Teacher Sofie and teacher Sarah, together with the creative captains, wanted to make the playground a pleasant place where all children feel at home. During the promotion week, they went looking for leaders among the pupils and for pupils who like to explain things. Together with these children, they founded the Observatory.
The Observatory is a rotation system in which three children assist the teachers on the playground. Their tasks are both MOS-related and non-MOS-related. For example, there is always a child from the Observatory standing by the bins to see if they are sorted properly. Children who have a fight or are sad can also come to the Star observatory.
The Observatory is a project with a bumpy ride, which has grown enormously. The children of the Observatory were a bit lost in the beginning because they did not know what was expected of them. The teachers adjusted the project and every teacher who supervises the playground now takes one child from the Observatory under his or her wing. The management also gave the Observatory an extra boost: they made fluorescent jackets with the Observatory's own logo on them.
Mission accomplished
The team of teacher Annick and her colleagues had one common goal: to create a sense of belonging across all the years. And they have succeeded particularly well in doing so. With the creative captains at the helm and by appealing to the children's talents, motivation grows and flourishes like never before. In the film you can see how the pre-schoolers are also motivated to strengthen the creative captains.
A report by Something Blue (2021)
The school's information
Primary school Pius X
Bredenakkerstraat 31
9070 Destelbergen
Pius X is an Eco-School in heart and soul. The school has already been awarded the internationally recognised Green Flag 7 times and also collaborated on the publication on 25 years of Eco-schools.
