Josef-Schwarz-Schule – A visit by bees during ‘Environmental Action Days’

This year’s summer holiday programme at the Josef-Schwarz-Schule certainly buzzed and hummed
Author: Luise Maron | Photo: Kaufland | 2018/2

As part of Kaufland’s ‘Environmental Action Days’, real bees were guests at the Josef-Schwarz-Schule (JSS). Over three days, environmental engineer Albrecht Trenz captivated the children via a number of child-friendly lectures and hands-on activities about how bees live, how they produce honey, what they contribute to the environment and their importance for everyday human life. In fact, in the animal kingdom, only cattle and pigs are more important than bees in terms of what they do for humans. As well as producing honey, bees have an essential function for nature and agriculture: they pollinate plants.

For the past 14 years, Neckarsulm-based Kaufland has been organising these days on a variety of topics. So the environment is brought to the school and to the students. Over the course of three days, 70 JSS schoolchildren experienced first-hand how bees organise themselves in their beehive, why there would be no honey without them and how bees can be protected. Year 1 student Konstantinos was astonished: ‘I learned that some bees only live for six weeks – such a short time!’ After school coordinator and  member of the primary school’s management, Susanne Keller, confirms that the ‘Environmental Action Days’ were highly enriching for teachers and students: ‘Our students were thrilled. Herr Trenz sparked their interest in environmental issues in a playful way.’

The children also learned that, without bees, we would not have certain fruits and vegetables, and there would be significantly fewer flowers. In Germany alone, more than 80 per cent of agricultural crops rely on bees for pollination. The children’s interest has already led to some of them putting out drinks for bees at home.


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