Context
The Antonia International School in Montpellier is a secular, free and independent school. It has the form of non-profit making association. It welcomed 225 children in 2019 and has more than 36 nationalities aged from 2 to 13 years old (from kindergarten to college). The applied pedagogy of In Touch Teaching is based on 3 pillars:
· Recognition of multiple intelligences
· The implementation of an annual project
· Bilingualism
For 10 years, they were in the city center but have just moved to a new address at 2 rue Patrice Lumumba - 34070 MONTPELLIER.
They raised more than 10,000 euros on a crowdfunding basis to plant their new yard, create a mini-forest and install a permaculture space.
They have thus created a more open site, deploying their conception of an education intended to give pupils the keys to understanding our world, so that they can better interact later.
The findings behind the creation of the project are twofold:
- In this international school, meals are organized in the form of a lunch box in order to respect the diets of each family on a cultural and health level. Children are more and more intolerant or allergic, so this functioning is suitable for the whole educational community;
- However, many children seemed to maintain an abstract relationship with food: "apricots grow in compotes". Oral language was just used to label fruits and vegetables with words! Furthermore, food waste was becoming intolerable due to the lack of awareness on the part of children of the origins of food production (time and effort required to grow food.)
A week of Taste was organized, linked to a No-waste week.
Project
The school is based on In Touch Teaching, which relies on children's senses to give meaning to learning: it is by giving children the means to understand the world that they will be able to interact better later.
The permaculture project is completely integrated into the application of In Touch Teaching. There is a disciplinary field provided in the weekly timetables and for all the classes from the very small section (as from 2 years old) to secondary school level. It is often linked to the practice of yoga and philosophy in addition to the other disciplines.
The initial intention was to contribute to an awareness of the fragility of our environment and to build a sense of increased responsibility among pupils for the food we eat.
Their interdisciplinary objectives are always aimed at:
- Living together
- Understanding how the world works
- Encouraging the emergence of complex thinking
- Acquiring skills (oral language / science / math / art / yoga / philosophy)
- Offering the opportunity to approach French and English on an experimental basis
How it works
Their first permaculture project was linked to the 2017 annual theme: ‘Man between game and I’. Therefore, their permaculture was hopscotch shaped. The weeks of taste and no-waste allowed them to feed the project upstream according to the methods deployed in In Touch Teaching.
For the implementation, the project leaders read a lot on the internet about the permaculture method in lasagna gardening, and have produced educational sheets based on the skills of certain members of their team. All parents were asked to participate in the development of this project. And then the project was launched ...
Means
Human resources were the basis of their desire to create their hopscotch in permaculture. The close-knit, united functioning of the school in an active educational community did the rest.
Impact
The positive impact on the environment is the greening of the courtyard with a nourishing space for observation, attention and respect. The hopscotch ecosystem was gradually revealed and small insects appeared. The first harvest was celebrated!.
Results
The results are such that the school has moved and decided to produce a much larger permaculture space. Children with attention disorders become calmer, and are able to develop relationships that change the way adults consider them.
The pupils became aware of time, and what it takes for fruit and vegetables to grow. This space is open, in a beautiful space in our courtyard.
225 people, plus all those who are curious about their pedagogy and follow their teaching practices. The school employs are 30 people as well as members of the voluntary educational community. The school works with a small nursery in Hérault and also benefits from donations from members of the educational community.
Needs :
- Welcomes volunteers, people in professional retraining, or reintegration ... the layout of the courtyard is the year project in 2019/20020.
- This non-profut making association can therefore consent to a tax receipt for tax exemption for any donation.
- Looking for people within the framework of a skill-based sponsorship.
The Little Extra
The innovation of the project lies in the possibility we have to change the way we eat, how we perceive and how we can all become involved. The children carry the project and bring it to life, drawing the parents into the adventure.
Our particularity is the application of In Touch Teaching which has been able to integrate the question of food into its way of conceiving learning. The annual theme for this year is: Man, from words to food. We are at the heart of the problem that will be seen across all disciplines, at all ages and throughout the year.
Written by Clémence Guignard, LFC volunteer - May 2019.
Last modification : 21 Apr 2020.
Antonia School
Construction by the children of the Antonia nursery school of a small vegetable garden in the shape of hopscotch according to the principles of permaculture made of layers of cardboard, wood, lawn mowing and dead leaves.