Nampak Report 2018

2. International and provincial twinning In 2017 the twinning initiative was started by Eco-Schools England for schools from different countries to pair up and share information . Four (4) schools from South Africa made contact with schools in the UK and Brazil, however it has proven to be a bit challenging to receive responses. Pecanwood College shared their projects with their twin and Little Stars Montesorri answered questions about South Africa which their twin asked for.

Pecanwood College shared several projects, e.g. their recycling day and hyacinth removal project , with their UK twin.

In South Africa a school in KZN and a school in Gauteng was paired to share information, however more encouragement is required, and we’ll aim to expand it to different provinces for 2019. How old are your buildings? Tell us about 2 interesting ones. Our building in South Africa are not as old as yours in Britain. As the Dutch settlers arrived, they built The Castle in Cape Town. They also built the Dutch gable styled homes, such as the Groot Constantia building. Further North there are traditional African rondawels which are round huts. There are also Ndebeni tribal homes painted with geometric patterns on their walls. Examples of questions requested from a UK school and answered by Little Stars Montessori. Which month is summer/winter? Our spring is in September, October, November. Summer is in December, January, February. Autumn is March, April, May, Winter is June, July, August. We have had a terrible drought and have strict water saving in place. Our water use is restricted. What animals live in your country? Besides our domestic animals, we have wild animals in the game parks like lions, elephants, zebra, giraffe, hippopotamus, buck and many more. We have a large bird kingdom. We also have cattle as farming is a big industry. Ostrich farming has become very popular and Springbok farming too. What birds do you see? Due to our rich plant kingdom we have a huge variety of birds. Our biggest bird is the Ostrich - which cannot fly. We are next to the coast and also have plenty of coastal seabirds. The birds here adapt to the terrain which is extremely diverse. Conditions range from lush/Garden Route to dry/Karoo to coastal/windswept to humid/tropical Natal or stormy Cape/snowy Drakensburg. What indigenous flowers grow in your country? The climate here is excellent for a large floral kingdom. It is home to the famous protea plant. We have a lovely botanical garden in Cape Town called Kirstenbosch that grows many varieties of local indigenous plants.

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