This year at Yew Chung International School of Beijing we can’t wait to celebrate Earth Day with our students. The whole day will be geared towards exploring sustainability, environmental responsibility, and appreciating the beauty of the natural world. Our plans include running a ‘Swap Shop’, having students ‘switch off’ to experience a day of learning without electrical energy consumption, multi-disciplinary presentations on the theme of Sustainability and the Environment, and (pollution levels notwithstanding) an afternoon trip to the park to commune with nature.

The ‘Swap Shop’ will be run by our Secondary School students and will see students bringing their gently used, but unwanted items to school to trade with their classmates, for items they find more appealing. This gentle lesson in re-homing and reusing items as opposed to disposing of them aims to teach students to think of small, but practical ways to reduce their waste.

While students across the school will be challenged to ‘switch off’ for the day and find ways to conduct their studies without the use of electricity, Years 6-8 will be exempted as they present the results of their project-based learning on Sustainability and the Environment. Despite their use of electricity, the presentations of our Year 6-8 students are sure to be the highlight of our Earth Day festivities, demonstrating how Sustainability and the Environment can be addressed and explored across all subject areas, from Maths and Science to Drama. Following the Year 6-8 presentations, students will be invited to enjoy some down-time to truly unplug and commune with nature in our beautiful local park.