Ethical Informed Citizens at Llanishen Fach Primary School

In the summer 2017 edition of Rhiwbina Living we wrote an article entitled ‘Making Learning Irresistible’ which described how, here at Llanishen Fach Primary School, we were working to shape a new curriculum in response to the Welsh Government’s 2015 publication, ‘Successful Futures’. In setting aspirations for education in twenty-first century Wales, Welsh Government adopted the ‘four purposes’, where pupils are:

• Ambitious, capable learners • Enterprising, creative contributors • Ethical, informed citizens • Healthy, confident individuals

Two years on the positive response from our pupils and their families to our efforts have demonstrated to us that we are on the right track in preparing our pupils for the lives that lay ahead of them. As an indication to how far our children have travelled in embracing the Four Purposes, we would like to share six short pieces written by some of our Year 5 and Year 6 pupils. The contributions were submitted following a request for articles on a subject of their choice that our pupils wanted to present to a wider audience. If the Welsh Government want to see evidence of the adoption of the Four Purposes they need look no further than Llanishen Fach Primary School.

Plastic pollution

Are we to believe that one of the biggest problems we face today is the fact that we are drowning in plastic?

Roughly over 100 years ago plastic was invented. At the time it was a miracle because it was so durable and cheap to make. Nowadays, plastic finds its way into everything, even our clothes.

I think that this is a problem because as plastic is so durable, it takes between 500 to 1000 years to biodegrade; and we are making too much to get rid of.

40 % of plastics are used for unrecyclable packaging. 12.7 million tonnes of this finds its way into the ocean each year! In the US plastic makes up to 34% of waste generated each year! Over 109 years 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been made and 6.3 billion tons of that has become waste. That’s just 9% recycled, 12% burnt and 79% wasted.

Unless we all get together and use less plastic and recycle the plastic that we do use, then we will undoubtedly grow up living in a sad world of no natural wildlife!

So to do your bit go to www.cleanseas.org/pledge or www.4ocean.com

By Tobias Brown

The homelessness crisis

The reason I am writing this article about homelessness is because I feel sorry for people who have nothing. I have seen a homeless man who does not have any arms. He does not own anything except a

pair of trousers, not even a T-shirt. Some of us get cold when we are in bed at home in winter, yet this man had nothing to keep him warm.

According to the Office for National Statistics, there were an estimated 90 deaths of homeless people in Wales in the five years up to 2017. Furthermore, according to a Welsh Government report, 9,072 households in Wales were in danger of becoming homeless during 2017-18. To be legally defined as homeless you must lack a secure place, in which you are entitled to either live or reasonably be able to stay.

In December 2018, an estimated 131,000 children were homeless in England, Scotland and Wales.

This is 3% higher than 2017 (over 3,000 more children) and 59% higher than 2013 (nearly 50,000 more children).

Should we really believe that we cannot improve this situation?

By Ben Lewis

Palm Oil – Impossible to give up?

I love orangutans, but the orangutan population is decreasing. Do you know why?

It’s because palm oil demand has increased. Around 50% of our daily goods contain palm oil. It’s the most widely produced vegetable oil. 90% of palm oil is currently produced in Malaysia & Indonesia.

Palm oil plantations are causing rainforest destruction. Rainforest areas the size of 300 football fields are being destroyed every hour. This is horrific.

Orangutans are in danger because they live in rainforests and they look for food in the plantations. They are seen as pests. It’s not right they are just at home minding their own business.

Most companies use different names for palm oil, that is why it can be impossible to give up. Only some companies have agreed to use organic palm oil. But this is not enough.

What can you do to help? Tell people, try not to buy products containing palm oil, its difficult I know, I have tried. Look for the other names given to palm oil and try to avoid these. It’s not impossible to give up, what we need is change. We can save the orangutans. We must.

By Hannah Welch

Plastic Pollution

Plastic pollution is the main thing affecting us on earth and we have a duty to prevent this from happening.

In 2016, 7 billion people produced 320 MILLION tonnes of plastic. This amount is set to double in 2034. 8 million pieces of plastic go into the ocean every day. There are an estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic in oceans around the world.

Over 1 million marine animals including mammals, fish, sharks, turtles and birds are killed each year, which is distressing. The North Pacific Gyre is a huge problem in the ocean. It is a massive pile of floating rubbish, twice the size of Texas, USA. There are 1.8 TRILLION pieces of rubbish laying in the water there.

This plastic waste takes hundreds or even thousands of years to breakdown. It can cause disease and defects in animals and humans.

In order to help this situation, we have the four R’s.

What are the four R’s?

• REDUCE our plastic waste by buying non-plastic packaging.

• RE-USE our plastic carrier bags.

• RECYCLE our rubbish.

• REFUSE items such as plastic straws in drinks.

Therefore, by doing this, we can save our planet for wildlife and future generations.

By Lily Stansfield

Bins!

Every time I go to the Wenallt to walk my dog I find the bins in the car park overflowing with rubbish. This makes me feel very annoyed and disturbed.

First of all, it is destroying the beauty of our landscape in the Wenallt. Secondly it highlights the fact that we don’t have access to recycling facilities in the Wenallt as much of that rubbish is recyclable and thirdly, I believe that this encourages irresponsible disposal of personal rubbish and fly tipping. No one can deny that this rubbish looks rubbish and my generation wants to enjoy the beauty of the Wenallt just like previous generations have. I believe that if these bins are left to consistently overflow then consequently our landscape will be destroyed for ever.

By Thomas Jackson

Vegan for the environment

In my opinion, everyone needs to help the environment in all different ways. The most efficient thing we can do as individuals, according to an Oxford study, is to live a vegan lifestyle. No one can deny greenhouse gas emissions are a big problem, but not many people know that over 51% of these emissions come from animal livestock through their digestion gases and manure waste, which is called “methane gas”. It is 72 times more powerful than CO2 in its effects on global warming. In my point of

view, we all need to look after our water as well. A lot of water is used for producing meat, but a lot less is used for fruits and vegetables. Consequently, we should eat no meat or less meat to reduce water usage. Deforestation is also causing a lot of problems for us in this world. However, there is a way to solve this. The animal agriculture is responsible for 91% of amazon rainforest destruction. A vegan lifestyle can put an end to it. We can also help the oceans by taking away the fishing nets. Can you believe that sea animals get strangled by fishing nets as there is 46% of ocean plastic. Unless we stop eating meat, the environment and animals will continue to suffer. In conclusion, I feel we shall be able to live how we want without damaging the environment. Try to go vegan please!!!

By Lucy German