“Today and tomorrow, all primary students will receive a tile wiper. That is a paper that you can fold into a kind of snack. Many people know this from the past. It contains tips and advice on how to make your own garden or balcony greener. also includes sunflower seed, because today the sunflower competition also starts,” says Veltman.
Fewer tiles better in extreme weather
Together with alderman Bob Bergsma, the students of the Maria in Campis school removed the twenty tiles from their schoolyard. The idea behind it is that fewer tiles are more useful in increasingly extreme weather. When it is very hot, stones provide little cooling and when it rains hard, the water cannot drain into the tiled ground. More greenery means that the water is drained faster after a downpour, which can (partly) prevent overloaded sewers.
Pupils from the Asser school in Assen have placed yellow and white plants on the site of the thrown tiles. What kind? “Uh, I don’t know. It was on the card that came with it,” says one of the students.
Natural shade
“This is very important, because there are many tiles in schoolyards and they get very hot. Trees and shrubs provide natural shade,” says school director Roos Bakx. “We have participated in this action before. We always do a part of the schoolyard. We piled the tiles that we took out and made a bench out of it. That can be used again for outdoor lessons.”
In addition to tiling and planting, the students at her school also receive lessons about the reason for the Dutch National Championships tiling and the care of the plants. “We will definitely participate again next year.”
Veltman: “We can’t do much about global climate change, but we can do it on our own square meters, so in your own garden. For example, do you buy a parasol for more shade in your garden or do you remove tiles and plant a tree? A tree cools more than a parasol, but also improves water management and soil health. Birds and other animals also enjoy it. Research also shows that more greenery makes us happier.”