It also means that you learn how to deal with the world in a responsible way. Fortunately, we are increasingly aware of the importance of sustainability. We want to raise awareness for this among the children. Not only as a part of a theme, but much more as a conscious way of thinking and behaving. Is it not wonderful to teach children to make sustainable choices in a conscious way?

To set an example, all children of De Groene Vlinder receive a drinking cup as a gift. As a result, they no longer need to bring packs and straws to school. From school year 19-20 on we ask parents and children to restrain from bringing separate packagings for food and drinks to school. In this way, besides creating awareness, we attempt to contribute to the fight against plastic waste.

Nature

Within IPC we pay extra attention to the topic Nature by consciously choosing themes in which Nature becomes more apparent. Excursions offer extra opportunities for the children to experience and discover nature.

The children learn to care for nature in and around the De Groene Vlinder building by growing and maintaining vegetables, herbs and plants in our vegetable garden and planters. Children learn to take responsibility and they become familiar with the cycle of nature.

The patio with the vegetable garden and planters becomes a discovery room for the children of De Groene Vlinder. They are challenged by IPC and nature lessons to take initiatives by themselves. The next project is the creation of an insect hotel, intertwining the fields of technology, crafts and nature education with the skills of creative thinking and collaboration.

GrowWizzKid

The GrowWizzKid is a vegetable garden 3.0! It is a vertical cultivation system in which technology and nature come together. Children learn to grow vegetables by caring, trying, experiencing and observing. The GrowWizzKid contains a great diversity of technology that the children discover by building and working with the system. Working with the GrowWizzKid bridges the gap between IPC, nature education, technology and sustainability goals.

All the vegetables we grow are processed into delicious salads and soups that we prepare ourselves during cooking classes. So gardening is not only an educational thing, it is also tasty!

Technics

Technical developments and the manufacturing industry are becoming increasingly important, especially in the Eindhoven region. We intend to introduce the children of De Groene Vlinder to technology and IT. To achieve this, a technology lab will be set up in school year 19-20. Besides providing insights into technology and IT, we also focus on creative thinking, problem-solving aptitude, computational thinking and IT skills.

Sustainable Development Goals / SDGs

Just like the world around us, education is evolving. Therefore we have created a new, future-proof identity for De Groene Vlinder which fits-in with the present. The World is the central focus within this renewed identity and we teach the children how to cope with this world.

Sustainability, care for nature and care for each other are paramount, as is reflected in our thematic approach via IPC, in which we link the subjects of IPC to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) drawn up by the United Nations. Again, we want to make our children socially aware as true world citizens.