Step out with the scooter for clean air
You tackle the following challenges:
Together with the Stedelijk Lyceum Quellin, De Wereldreizen shares a building on the busy Quellinstraat. The location on this street canyon in the heart of the city means that healthier air and a more pleasant school environment are important to both schools. They enthusiastically participated in the Pure Air project and thus contributed their part.
Bye bye bus
“ Our school believes exercise is important. We therefore go swimming with our students every week ,” says teacher Greet Brits. “ Like many schools, we took the bus twice a week for this. However, we found that the children were on the bus longer than they could swim. ” A bad situation, especially when you know that the school is only two kilometers from the swimming pool. That is why De Wereldreizen took a bold decision: they canceled bus transport to the swimming pool and invested in the purchase of 72 scooters. A decision with only advantages, as it turned out.
An easy calculation
The recurring cost of bus transport was replaced by a one-off investment and a small maintenance cost. “ The purchase of the scooters, helmets, protection and scooter racks cost less than 5,000 euros, while the school spent more than 6,000 euros annually on bus transport to and from the swimming pool alone ,” says director Jef Groffen. “ The investment is therefore already earned back after one school year. Especially if you know that we also try to make other trips with the steps. If they are feasible of course .” The school has not yet needed the money we set aside for maintenance. She used it to buy equipment for toddlers and some large scooters for older students.
Sitting becomes moving
Instead of 'sitting' in the bus, the students are active during the trips. “ For many of our students stepping was not so easy ,” says care teacher Catherine Maystre. “ But our teachers turned them into fully-fledged scooters that can move safely in traffic .” And the toddlers enjoy it too. They are already taking step lessons to be able to go swimming in the first year.
Less traffic equals less emissions
Everyone benefits from the third advantage. By eliminating two bus rides each week, De Wereldreizen contributes to fewer polluting substances in the air and a healthier living environment. And the climate also benefits because less fossil fuels are burned.
" Every scooter tour remains a major undertaking, but the impact on the environment, our budget and our students is significant, " the director concludes.
Immerse in Pure Air
But it didn't stop at steps alone. Together with the Stedelijk Lyceum, De Wereldreizen conducted other campaigns for cleaner air. The entire teaching staff made an effort to embed the theme of 'air quality' in the daily work of the school. “ That broad involvement did not come by itself, ” says teacher Greet. “ We brought up the theme of air quality several times at our staff meeting. With the support of MOS (Environmental Care At School) Province of Antwerp, we organized an inspiration and reflection moment for our colleagues, which resulted in many great ideas. Every two months we now try to provide an educational activity on air quality for all students. For example, several of our classes started working with air-purifying plants during Dikke Truiendag. ” Incidentally, those plants fit within a broader experiment with air-purifying plant and moss walls within the school.
Measuring air quality
The air quality in the classroom is measured together with the students at various times. “What we learned from the first measurements at the beginning of 2020 is that it is not so self-evident to continuously get the CO 2 values in the classroom below the target value of 900 parts per million (ppm), even if we really have an open window. - and open door policy,” says teacher Fenna Verschueren of the Stedelijk Lyceum. “ That was possible during Corona, but that often led to very cold classes in winter. By opening the windows all the time, more noise and polluted air from the street also entered the classrooms. We were able to determine the latter via measurements with nitrogen dioxide measuring tubes ”.
iBird also visualises the indoor air quality in the classroom. These educational air quality meters in the shape of a birdhouse help to make even the smallest aware of healthy air. The story 'Terra is sick' will also help. Through simple drawings and a beautiful video, the preschoolers learn about air quality and the complex theme of global warming through the story of Terra (the earth) and Laura (the sun).
A pleasant school environment
A pleasant, safe and healthy school environment is also important for the school. That is why De Wereldreizen worked out a memorandum with the neighborhood with recommendations for the plans for the redevelopment of Quellinstraat. Director Jef Groffen: “ Together with our local residents, we worked out two proposals to thoroughly change the traffic situation in the area and thus improve the air quality in our school environment. Unfortunately, these proposals were not retained. However, at the request of our bill, there will be fewer parking spaces. There will now only be loading and unloading zones in half of the street. The disappearance of the many stationary buses in our street after the work on Rooseveltplaats has ended will hopefully also have a positive effect on air quality .”
At the school itself, large planters with trees were placed on the playground. The students – from first kindergarten to sixth year of secondary education – broke out some of the tiles and replaced them with environmentally friendly wood chips. “ Not only do they provide more greening and water seepage, they also provide a beautiful playground for our students ,” concludes director Groffen.
