Last Friday October 18th, Vilamoura International School was awarded 1st place in the Eco-Trails competition (together with the Escola Básica 2, 3 from Celeirós, Braga) at the Eco-Schools Awards: Green Flags Day 2019.
The Eco-Schools Green Flag is an internationally recognised award for excellence in environmental action and learning.
The celebrations, which took place at the Multiusos de Guimarães, kicked off with an awards ceremony for this year’s challenges. The President of the European Blue Flag Association (ABAE), José Archer, and the Guimarães county councillor for Education, Adelina Pinto, each congratulated the participants, and two representatives from DGEstE Norte and APA reiterated the impact of the ABAE’s initiatives in creating ecological awareness.
The award-winning Eco-Trail developed by students in the Eco-Club is available to view here: https://pt.wikiloc.com/trilhas-caminhada/eco-escolas-eco-trilho-mar-colegio-internacional-de-vilamoura-36322810
To create this trail, the students started by researching various potential routes for a trail by the coast. Next, it was determined that the route would cover two different areas: sandy and clifftop zones. The final decisions were made as a group, and established five main points of interest: (I) Praia do Castelo, (II) Praia do Lourenço, (III) Rocha da Galé, (IV) Lagoa dos Salgados and finally (V) Armação de Pêra. These points of interest were chosen to include geological characteristics of the area, native flora and fauna, leisure activities and aspects of local culture. The students really enjoyed using Wikiloc to put together the trail. They are excited to create more routes, and to explore the routes on Wikiloc that other members of the site have created.
As well as this prize, CIV also received the Green Flag, a result of the school community’s collective effort in the areas of environmental education and sustainability. 1564 schools were awarded with this title, from 229 municipalities across the country. Loulé had the highest number of educational institutions awarded among municipalities in the Algarve, with 11 schools receiving the Green Flag.
