Written by Robert Watson, Vice-Principal
In the world that our children are growing up in, it is becoming increasingly important for our students to be globally minded and to begin thinking about the world beyond their own communities.
In order to facilitate this, we introduced the Primary students to the 17 Global Goals of Sustainable Development, which have been developed by the United Nations. These goals include targets such as No Poverty, Zero Hunger, Quality Education and Climate Action to name but a few.
The students took these targets back to their own classrooms, and collaborated to work on a Global Goal that they can themselves work on in a context which was meaningful to them. After a few weeks, the results of this collaborative activity have been amazing. Here are some of the plans so far…
The Year 6 students took the ‘Zero Hunger’ goal to heart and began working on creating informative slides about the problem, the goal and practical acts that all YCIS students can try out. Once the Year 6 students have put all of their slides together into one extraordinary presentation, they will share it with others to spread the word about the Global Goals and hopefully inspire change. As Brandon Sun in Y6A expressed “I am interested in the “Zero Hunger” goal because if you are starving you will be unhealthy and basically can’t do anything, like work or play.”
- The Year 5 students have been linking the Global Goals with their own English and Mathematics curriculum.
◦ Report Writing – The Year 5 students have been ‘invited’ to attend the G20 World Leaders’ Meeting and that they had to write a report about a Global Goal of their choice to submit to the panel.
◦ Data Handling – The Year 5 students have been appointed as the environmental ministers, and the President has asked them to create a draft to show evidence of climate change to report to the G20 summit. However, they must ensure they include a frequency table, line graph and answer a set of related questions about their data.
The Year 4 students have decided to incorporate the Global Goals into their Current Affairs presentations. Students will find an article that relates to one of the Global Goals that they feel is really important.
The Year 3 students are inspired by the ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’ goal. They
want to experience some of the hardships children in other parts of the world are exposed to in order to obtain clean water. They are planning a trip to Century Park where students will be sponsored to walk certain distances to reflect how far children around the world walk for water.-
The Year 2 students were particularly interested in Global Goal 12: ‘Responsible Production and Consumption’. They will link it into their unit ‘Circle of Life’. To place it into context, the Year 2 students will then see how this goal relates to their own lives, in particular to their own habits relating to the Three Rs – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. 
The Year 1 students wanted to actually help the children in other countries that do not have electricity, and have decided to assemble their own lights to send to children in Rwanda or Uganda, through the charity ‘Solar Buddy Project’.
Through these projects, we have realised that there is so much that we can do to help achieve these goals. Being a Global Citizen is not just learning about the issues around the world, but it is also related to connecting with others, thinking about what we can do and then taking action to make a difference. And what better place to start this journey than here at school?
To help encourage and reward students for their global action, the Co-Principals’ Global Child Award has been established. The very first awardees were presented with their certificates at the whole school assembly last week on Founders Day. To read more about the award, click here.