Special commendation — Schools and institutions: Southern Cross Schools
‘Our real hope is to educate our children not to make the mistakes that we have made,†says Anthony de Boer, headmaster of the Southern Cross Schools. This coeducational school located on the outskirts of Hoedspruit in Mpumalanga uses the environment as a core learning tool to achieve the school’s outcomes-based curriculum.
The timetable includes at least an hour a week in the bush with a qualified ecologist. The school’s vision is to produce citizens who are academically, culturally, socially and environmentally balanced and are able to participate in the socioeconomic development of South Africa.
The school has partnered with several organisations over the years to achieve these ends. For example, it has collaborated with the Khamai Reptile Park to assist housing developers when the environmental impact assessments have been approved.
Before an area is handed over to developers, learners at the school scour the area looking for nests of the golden brown baboon spider, which is restricted to a 200km radius of Hoedspruit.
The spider is one of the rarest in the world, and its nests are being marked by learners for developers to avoid or to be moved as a last resort. This spider loses its instinct to build a burrow when it’s about seven years old.
It is believed the spider only builds one burrow in its lifetime. If the spider is relocated, a mould of the burrow is taken so that this can be replicated at the new site. Learners collect data — it includes the date of moving and the location’s GPS coordinates — to be analysed by the reptile park.
The school also collaborates with the South African Environmental Observation Network. ‘In this long-term study the effect of fire and elephants on the trees of the Kruger National Park is being studied,†says De Boer.
It is anticipated that this project will continue for at least 20 years and will give South Africa a better understanding of how climate change is affecting bushveld vegetation and animal life. The serious water-deficit problem in the area has prompted the school to eliminate exotic plant life.
Instead the grounds are well populated with indigenous vegetation that has been identified and labelled by the learners. In addition, all ‘grey water†— that is, waste water from baths and washing machines — is being directed to a series of settling ponds, where waste matter is broken down naturally.
This water will then flow into a wetland area, created on a natural watercourse, where reeds and sedges further help remove elements and purify the water. This recreated wetland system has the added advantage of attracting birds such as warblers and weavers.
The Southern Cross Schools has big plans for the future. It aims to be off the Eskom electricity grid eventually and reliant on cleaner sources of energy production such as solar and biogas from biodigestors.
The boys’ boarding house and new kitchen have been built with solar water geysers. The school also aims to become the hub for the Unesco Biosphere and Schools Association for information sharing, networking and student exchange programmes.
The school hopes that communities living in this biosphere will ensure responsible development and maintenance of biodiversity. There are 350 Unesco Biosphere Reserves worldwide. ‘We are trying to establish young leaders who are conscious of the environment, to make sure we have a future,†says De Boer.
The Greening the Future judges commended the school’s efforts, saying they were impressed by its ambitious and innovative approach to the environment.