Project Conference

After a very successful project last year, we decided to pursue a new project titled Honey Story. Our school coordinated the project and collaborated with four other schools – Olga Milošević Primary School from Serbia, Blago Zadro Primary School from Croatia, Sveti Sava Primary School from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Gymnazium Vodnany school from Czech Republic. The central conference took place on 13 December at the Primož Trubar Cultural Centre in Šentjernej.

There were 24 guests at the conference coming from partner schools. Other attendees were the headmistress and pupils of Šentjernej Primary School, together with their supervisors. There were also representatives from different Slovenian  institutions – Andreja Čuk, head of Novo mesto branch of the National Education Institute; Tanja Strniša, national secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food; and Boštjan Noč, the president of the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association.

PHOTOS
Press about conference:     Vaš kanal     Radia Krka      Dolenjski list

In her speech, the headmistress of Šentjernej Primary School Renata Zupanc Grom listed the goals of the project. Amongst them, she listed promoting awareness of the importance of bees, beekeeping and ecology, and cooperative learning as the most important ones. She also pointed out that the project was elevated because of pupils’ exchange and offered many opportunities for experiential learning. She thanked all the supervisors and outside partners that took the challenge and cooperatedin the project. Andreja Čuk put emphasis on students’ creativity visible in all the products created through Honey Story. She congratulated us on our success and wished us more opportunities to cooperate in the future. Tanja Strniša mentioned that the project is a proof of our appreciation of beekeeping and caring for nature. She congratulated all the participants for the activities and pointed out that bees unite Slovenians and connect the world. Boštjan Noč congratulated the headmistress on spreading the Honey Story idea amongst the students and headmasters across borders. He also said that this project is the first concrete representation of the idea that Slovenian beekeepers adopted when World Bee Day was instituted – bees unite and connect people.

At the conference, four schools presented the activities that were carried out through the Honey Story project. We learned that pupils got familiar with bees, their living environment, bee products and the history of beekeeping, apiaries and the drawings on beehive panels, in many different ways. They visited beekeepers that presented their work and tools for beekeeping. Pupils could also taste different types of honey. They made bees, constructed beehives and apiaries, made beeswax ointments, painted on beehive panels, listened to different stories, and wrote their own poems and honey fairytales. They also prepared a short play and sayings about bees. And naturally, they also made gingerbread biscuits and other delicious culinary delights with honey. These are only a few of many activities in which outside partners participated as well.

The guests of the conference could also see a rich exhibition of different products that showed pupils’ creativity, skill and knowledge.