Before travelling to Enkhuizen by train, we enjoyed some time in this metropolitan city where people from all walks of life share canals, cobbled streets and bridges.

It was the best way to recharge batteries to begin with energy the following day at RSG-Enkhuizen and meet our 🇳🇱Dutch and 🇬🇧British partners.

Here we go!

After a warm welcome and presentation of the project, our hosts showed us around the school and offered some entertaining activities to break the ice.

Then we started looking at Sustainable Developement Goal 10: Reducing inequalities.

The afternoon was filled with workshops given by members of staff, looking at: Gender Equality, LGBTQIA+, and with practical sessions with wheelchair basketball clinic given by Paralympian Paul Toes and blind football.

Articles about their first day were written with reflections about inequalities in society and actions that we need to take were discussed in groups and added to the digital newspapers.

The day ended with pizza and film!

Our HEROES headed into Enkhuizen to see how the Dutch keep their feet dry with the water management system of dykes and pumphouses.

A group photo at the Landje van Top was taken with the Drommedaris in the background.

The afternoon brought the two Sustainable Development Goals together of Quality Education and Good Health and Well-being. Students took the next task into creating the dream school for the next generation. In groups, they thought about the schools they had visited and what features would appear in their school of the future.

Pupils also dealt with stress through meditation; painting whilst listening to music and allowing the music to make the abstract art; a hip-hop dance workshop was next on the bill and the fourth workshop allowed pupils to learn to play the ukulele.

Pupils worked on a Scavenger Hunt in the Streekbos to develop the softer skills of working together, solving problems and learning how to cooperate in a second language. The benefits of the activity also helped to address Sustainable Development Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being and how important it is to close the screens, walk through the forests and enjoy the fresh air and the beauty of the nature around you.

Later, students visited the Sow to Grow Museum where an introduction into the importance of Enkhuizen for feeding the world through Seed Valley was given. 

During the visit to the museum, pupils were taken in three smaller groups through how seeds are bred, coated and prepared for shipping.

We ended the day by having a wonderful italian dinner at Porto Vecchio restaurant!