Teacher Preparation

Schools require policies so the school community knows what they need to do and what is happening. Policies help plan for the future and produce cultural changes within schools.

Some schools will have water policies. This may be part of a sustainability program. If the school already has a water policy, students can review the policy, find out how effective it has been and make new recommendations.

If the school does not have a water policy, the can develop a draft policy that can be presented to the appropriate school leadership team or school council.

Activity

Find out:

If the school has a water policy.
Who in the school community is responsible for any water issues.
If the school has a policy on students drinking water eg sharing water bottles.
How old the toilet cistern are and how much trouble they cause.
What process the school has to get a plumber to fix plumbing.
If the school have a plumbing budget.
How the garden, lawns and sport fields are watered.

Review:

What students have already learnt from their investigations around the school?

Decide:

Will students be developing a draft water policy?
Will student be reviewing the school water policy?
Who will students present their draft water policy to?
What kind of communication product will be created to present the students’ material?

Develop:

Break the class up into groups and get each groups to take responsibility for one section of the school’s water policy. A format for developing the policy for each aspect of water use has been provided. Not all parts of the suggested format are relevant or they may need to be modified for some aspects of the water policy . The suggested format is:

What is happening now?
How is water being wasted?
What may need fixing?
What may need replacing?
What new plumbing is needed?
Will it cost money?
What do individuals in the school community need to do?
Recommendations for things that can go into a school policy.

Use the suggested format and the further suggestions below to start developing the school policy. Students may need to do further investigations and the teacher may need to get advice from a plumber to identify the best plumbing strategies

Responsibility of school community:

Turn off taps.
Only using enough water to do the job.
Use alternatives to hosing areas down when possible.
Report leaking plumbing.

School plumber:

What does the plumber do?
How is the plumber contacted?
Who is responsible for calling plumber?
How can plumbing needing fixing best be reported?
Does the school have adequate access to plumbing services?

Water fountains:

What do students think of the water fountains?
Are more needed and where would they be placed?
Can the water that drains from the fountains be used on a garden?
Are the fountains safe to drink at (students are not bumped into etc.)
Are the fountains clean enough to drink from?
Do some taps have problems with too much or too little pressure?
Can younger children use the taps properly?

Garden taps:

How are outdoor taps used?
Can they be left on?
Are they in the best locations?
Can students injure themselves on them?
Are students using the taps (they probably shouldn’t be and they should not be drinking from garden taps).

Toilet taps:

Can students wash their hands without getting their clothes wet?
Are they easy to leave on?
Do they have too much pressure?
Are the taps, troughs and area around them easy to keep clean?

Student toilets and cisterns:

Are the toilets old and therefore use a lot more water than newer toilets?
How often do the toilets leak?
What should happen when a toilet leaks a lot of water (is there a tap so it can be turned off and a way to say the toilet is out of order)?
What do students think of the toilets?
Are the toilet areas easy to keep clean?
Does any toilet plumbing need replacing?

Water tanks:

Does the school have water tanks?
What is the water used for?
Is the water being used all of the year?
Where would water tanks be installed in the school?
How could water tanks be hooked up to the school toilets?
What else could water from water tanks be used for?
Are there grants being given to schools to install water tanks?

Watering garden/lawn/sports fields

How are the school grounds watered?
Who does the watering?
Has anyone worked out how long the water system needs to be on for a proper watering?
How often is watering done? Could watering be done more often than needed?
If the school has an automatic system, what happens on rainy days?
If the school has a vegetable garden, what is the best way to water it?
If there are any water hungry gardens, could they be replaced with native plants?

Edit and combine:

Each group presents their findings and recommendations.
All the student works is combined.
An introduction is written.
All the recommendations are combined in a summary.
The material is edited and feedback provided.
Depending on the feedback, changes are made.

Presentation:

Students produce a presentation.
Students present their presentation.
Students provided with feedback about what the school will do with their draft policy.

School water policy

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Learning intentions:

Students will...

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