Waterberg Academy recognises planet earth’s plight

We now know that humankind is hav­ing an enor­mous long-term neg­a­tive impact on our planet and the diver­sity of life upon it – the so-called “sixth extinc­tion”. We have the oppor­tu­nity to recog­nise this dam­age and to put in place pro­grammes that will arrest, or maybe even begin to reverse some of the destruc­tion for which our species has been responsible.

At Water­berg Acad­emy, we aim to sen­si­tise our learners to the prin­ci­pal issues at stake, to debate ways in which they can be addressed and to par­tic­i­pate in pro­grammes designed to reduce the impact we have on our surroundings.

Why we aim to make a difference

  • Glob­ally mankind needs to analyse envi­ron­men­tal issues.
  • It is vital that con­cepts such as sus­tain­able devel­op­ment, bio-diversity and how to achieve envi­ron­men­tal aware­ness are grasped.
  • We need com­mu­nity-minded cit­i­zens who, irre­spec­tive of their local­ity on the globe, will be capa­ble of mak­ing a pos­i­tive con­tri­bu­tion in their imme­di­ate envi­ron­ment and community.
  • We must develop young cit­i­zens, who will be cham­pi­ons for the envi­ron­men­tal cause and Man’s ulti­mate sur­vival; they will be eco-wise.

How can this be achieved?

  • Develop life skills through prac­ti­cal, hands-on and ‘real world’ experiences.
  • Develop too, the con­cept of empow­er­ment and that mak­ing respon­si­ble deci­sions is both vital and critical.
  • Qual­i­ties such as lead­er­ship and inno­va­tion need to be encour­aged and developed.
  • A cul­ture of ser­vice beyond self must be both fos­tered and deep-rooted.
  • An under­stand­ing that edu­cat­ing for sur­vival requires flex­i­bil­ity and the abil­ity to adapt to the needs of our times.

2005 — 2015 is the UN Decade of edu­ca­tion for sus­tain­able development.

Edu­ca­tion for Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment may be defined as “a life-wide and life­long endeav­our which chal­lenges indi­vid­u­als, insti­tu­tions and soci­eties to view tomor­row as a day that belongs to all of us, or it will not belong to anyone”.

In 2003 Water­berg Acad­emy embarked on their Eco jour­ney which had small begin­nings. The newly employed envi­ron­men­tal­ist started teach­ing as nature intended, under a tree, and by incor­po­rat­ing sub­jects like tech­nol­ogy a true “out­door” cur­ricu­lum was ini­ti­ated.

In 2005, after thor­ough inves­ti­ga­tion and plan­ning, Water­berg Academy’s Eco Vision and Mis­sion was for­mu­lated and imple­mented – all under the watch­ful eye of Eco Schools (Limpopo) WESSA.

An exten­sive port­fo­lio detail­ing all the school’s Eco activ­i­ties was sub­mit­ted for audit­ing and resulted in the school’s first “Green Flag” in recog­ni­tion of our efforts.

Since then Water­berg Academy’s con­sis­tent efforts and even more strin­gent audits and portfolios have resulted in the fol­low­ing awards:

  •  2006:   Eco Schools Green Flag Sta­tus (only 2 schools in Limpopo)
  •  2007:   Bronze Cer­tifi­cate
  •  2008:   Sil­ver Certificate
  •  2009:   Big Green Flag – Merit Award
  •  2010:   Gold Cer­tifi­cate
  •  2011:   Inter­na­tional Sta­tus Flag
  •              Plat­inum Award
  • 2012:   Inter­na­tional Status
  •            2nd Plat­inum Award

Water­berg Academy’s Eco Sta­tus serves as a sym­bol in the com­mu­nity to be envi­ron­men­tally friendly and man­age the imme­di­ate resources. Major focus points are to inform learn­ers about local and global trends and “man­age­ment” of our pre­cious planet.