Greening primary school De Step

June - September 2023

Primary School De Step

Commissioned by primary school De Step in the Belgian Beringen, I helped draw up a subsidy application for the โ€˜Nature in your schoolโ€™ programme, to green their school environment.

By giving space to nature, De Step wants to be better adapted to the changing climate. For example, planting 45 large trees will provide more shade, and replacing a large part of the paved playground with greenery will provide cooling and better retain rainwater. A lot of space will be filled with flowers, herbs and shrubs, which will benefit local biodiversity. And there is a lot of attention for playing and education, with learning about and with nature becoming an important part of the curriculum.

My input consisted of drawing up a plan with as many natural elements as possible and designing climate adjustments based on nature. A large area of โ€‹โ€‹paving stones will be replaced by herb-rich grass, an edible garden and a bark floor, a concrete slope will become a hill with grassland, shrubs and trees, a play forest will be created and walls will be covered with vegetation. I also provided advice on ecological management and how to monitor whether the measures are working out well for nature.

The subsidy was awarded in the summer of 2024. The works, financed by the Department of Environment of the Flemish Government, will start in the autumn of 2024 and will run until the end of 2026.

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