A key element of year 2 education is the importance of our environment.  Practically from the first day of term, the children are learning about recycling, how plastic bottles are made, how coke cans are made, and how much energy is required for these processes, the importance of switching off lights, and not letting water run unnecessarily.  When I think back, it was only towards the end of my secondary school days that talk of a more environmentally responsible world became a hot topic.  I am glad to see it is now part of the school curriculum from such an early stage.

We have 2 bins, the recycling bin and normal rubbish bin.  Still not quite as advanced as Europe or North America but, let’s forget, the UAE is a young country and an emerging economy.  Things take time.

But still the school pushes on.  Next week, the children have a ‘recycling workshop’ at school.  I am not quite sure exactly what this means but I am sure it will be educational, and probably involve replicating the world’s tallest builiding, the Burj Khalifa, with a selction of egg boxes, tin foil and toilet roll tubes.

For their part, the children have been asked to collect recylable materials to school; cereal boxes, toilet roll tubes, milk bottles, and the like.  DD and DS1 raced to battle over the contents of the recycling bin, and each managed to fill a large carrier bag!

As Mummy on Supervisory Duty, I rifled through their goodies.  I was horrified!  Dunkin’ Donuts boxes, ice lolly boxes, ice cream tubs, coco pops boxes……what would the school think?  ‘Ah, so, the F family seems to spend a lot of money on sugary treats – mental note’.

In our defence, it was our helper’s birthday and, as part of her celebration, we got her a selection of Dunkin’ Donuts for her and her friends.  I had just sorted through the ice lollies in the freezer.  To make room, I chucked the ice lolly boxes and put the ice lollies back in the freezer.  Coco pops – DH is to blame.  Ice cream tubs – I take the 5th!

I secretly hoped the school Nurse was not involved in this environmentally friendly exercise……she could recycle my guts for garters!