Articles by P. Janowicz and P. Danuta Maślnicka (G. B. no. 9/93) aroused readers’ interest, and, referring to the statements of the aforementioned authors, they sent in their own comments and reflections. They are very long, however, which not all readers—those less interested in the subject—approve of. Therefore, in consultation with the authors, we are publishing these statements in installments today.
On 1 August 1987, I took over the primary school in Bożejowice. A small school, with eight grades and a preschool class, attended by 140 pupils (currently 164), with a large playing field and recreational grounds. Freshly painted, bright, and full of flowers and greenery. It brings together children from three villages: Bożejowice, Rakowice, and Otok.
Full of apprehension, I began work, learning the administrative side of the job. With enthusiasm, I began arranging the school. Parents and the sponsoring workplaces helped me. In front of the school, we created a small rock garden (a school garden).
For many years, the children had received “a glass of hot milk,” which was boiled in the kitchen. Girls from the Polish Red Cross School Circle, wearing aprons, carried milk in jugs to every classroom during the long break. The children took clean, starched napkins from their breakfast bags, laid out sandwiches, cups, and fruit, and, together with their teachers, calmly and with appetite ate their elevenses. And I, a “newly minted” principal, watched in amazement and delight, saying, “Bon appétit.”
For 20 years, working in a city school, I had never seen anything like it. Usually, the long break at school is a nightmare, but here, just outside the city, there was this wonderful arrangement, where the long break was a genuine period of rest.
This tradition of eating a second breakfast at school is not my achievement. The school owes it to the previous principal, P. Maria Kuduk, who is now retired. How much work must she have put in to instill these habits in the pupils and their parents? We also owe it to the mothers, especially since they put these breakfasts into the bags every day. Seeing this, I decided to preserve the tradition at all costs. It was difficult then, because the dairy delivered the milk at 5 a.m., and the staff had to put out a 30-liter milk can so early, light the coal-fired stove in the kitchen, boil the milk, and wash the pots and jugs.
As I am a biologist by training, have been a member of the M. Kopernik Polish Naturalists’ Society at the University of Wrocław for many years, and have completed postgraduate studies in Ecology and Environmental Protection, I began introducing a program of ecological education and upbringing, starting with the preschool class.
In October 1991, I happened to buy Głos Nauczycielski (because there had been no money for a magazine subscription for a long time). An article entitled “Like a Fish in Water” caught my attention. I cut out the questionnaire and application form and submitted my school’s interest in participating in the “Healthy School” project, developed by the Copenhagen Office of the European World Health Organization. In that year (1991), Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary were offered the opportunity to test the project in 10 schools.
In a “Healthy School,” everything a child learns in class should be supported at home and in their surroundings. Therefore, the participation of parents and other people from the community in which the school is located is essential to the process of creating a “healthy school.” The project was to be implemented from 1992 to 1995, while the 1991/1992 school year was the preparatory year. The project is being implemented in Europe under the auspices of the World Health Organization, and in Poland under the patronage of the Ministry of National Education, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry, the Polish Teachers’ Union, and the National Education and Upbringing Section of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity.”
The direct organization of the project was the responsibility of the multidisciplinary Polish Team for the “Healthy School” Project, established by the Ministry of National Education. Its seat is the Mother and Child Institute in Warsaw. The head of the team and coordinator is Associate Professor B. Wojnarowicz, head of the Department of Social Pediatrics and School Medicine at the same institute.
They liked the project, and after receiving approval from the School Council, the Teachers’ Council, and the Student Council, I sent the questionnaire and application form on 30 October 1991. I waited for the decision, while work at the school continued as normal.
To be continued.
MA Maria Tomczyk, health leader, school principal.