Vauban’s commitment to sustainability

Established both in students’ citizenship pathway and in the school’s eco-responsible approach, EWWR is a key awareness-raising event.
The 2024 edition, focusing on the theme ‘Eat better, waste less’, gave rise to numerous educational and solidarity-based initiatives.

The initiatives included:

• Collecting clothing and shoes for Caritas Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Red Cross

• Training eco-representatives how to manage projects through the workshop Project Power: from idea to impact, run by IMS (Inspiring More Sustainability) and Devoteam

• Supporting the ‘Zero Mégot’ (zero cigarette butt), ‘Meatless Monday’ and ‘Swap-party’ projects organised by the 2024–2025 eco-representatives

• Raising awareness by means of two exhibitions:
  • For only a few minutes of use - zero single-use plastic, on plastic pollution (in English)
  • Antigaspi (anti-waste) ,on the causes and consequences of food waste (in German)

The English European section students also came up with a quiz about plastic pollution for their classmates and IMS.

Other EWWR highlights included Vauban’s participation in the AlimenTerre Festival, with film screenings followed by discussions on the impact of food on health and the environment, and the Green Friday operation organised by the eco-representatives, as an alternative to Black Friday.

Last but not least, waste sorting workshops were organised for CP to CM2 pupils by SuperDrecksKëscht® Luxembourg.

🔍 Find out more about the 2024 edition

Earth Week, which takes place in April each year, is another highlight of Vauban’s environmental commitment.
For one week, students and staff members are invited to get involved in various activities to better understand climate challenges and take specific action for the planet.

An overview of some of the key initiatives of the 2025 edition:

• Taking part in charity collections (clothes for the Luxembourg Red Cross and the HUT association, bottle caps for the Thionville-based association Handisport)

• Restoring the educational garden with the eco-representatives

• Participating in Climate Fresk workshops

• Gardening as part of the Reading, Nature and Ecology project, in partnership with the Local Initiative and Management Centre (CIGL) in Esch-sur-Alzette

• Taking action during the Zéro Mégot Challenge organised by the town of Schifflange, resulting in the collection of 10,000 cigarette butts in just 90 minutes

• Assessing our carbon footprint thanks to an interactive Energy for life workshop run by the Scienteens lab Physics (University of Luxembourg)

To mark Earth Day, the eco-representatives also organised a charity sale of plants and ointments they had made themselves, in order to fund future eco-responsible projects.

Throughout the week, several scientific, artistic and educational exhibitions were held, complemented by work produced by the students themselves, making Vauban a genuine place for dialogue and creativity centred on ecology.

🔍 Find out more

Solidarity Week, which takes place in December each year, is a highlight of Vauban’s civic engagement. It aims to raise students’ awareness of the values of solidarity, sharing and volunteering, while helping them to better understand the social, humanitarian and environmental realities of the world around them.

Through presentations by associations, classroom discussions and numerous solidarity-based initiatives (collections, sales, sporting challenges, Christmas markets), students are encouraged to get actively involved, in their own capacity, in projects with a real purpose.

2025 edition

The 2025 edition of Solidarity Week, held from 8 to 12 December, once again brought the entire school community together around a rich and unifying programme.
Charity collections, presentations by associations, initiatives in support of Téléthon, sporting challenges and the Christmas market enabled students from primary to high school to get actively involved and turn their commitment into action.

A few key highlights from previous editions

Solidarity Week has been firmly embedded in the life of our school for more than six years.
In recent editions:

• Over 1,000 students involved each year, from primary to high school

• Around 15 committed associations take part, addressing a wide range of topics – international solidarity, health, disability, child welfare and poverty alleviation – through awareness-raising activities and classroom sessions with students

• Over €2,000 raised, at some editions, for solidarity-based initiatives

• Key moments that bring the school together: food and clothes collections, sports tournaments, charity sales, encounters with charity workers

In recent editions, Solidarity Week brought together associations such as Téléthon, SOS Villages d’Enfants, Coopération Nord-Sud, Handicap International, ELA Luxembourg, Pour un Sourire d’Enfant (PSE Junior), Stand Speak Rise Up!, SOS Faim, Caritas Luxembourg,  Luxembourg Red Cross, l’Île aux Clowns, Toutes à l’école, the Sarah Grond Foundation, the Luxembourg Food Bank and La Femme Contemporaine asbl.

These initiatives enable our students to develop active citizenship, give meaning to their learning and enjoy enriching moments of exchange, in line with Vauban’s core values.

📅 Go to the 2025 programme

🔍 An article about the 2024 edition

Introducing one vegetarian day per month at the canteen, pursuant to the commitments made during the 2023–2024 school COP, to promote more sustainable food choices and reduce the carbon footprint of the meals served.
This initiative led by the eco-representatives, allows students to discover well-balanced and delicious vegetarian alternatives.

Organising anti-waste cookery workshops for pupils aged 6 to 8, in partnership with school catering provider Eurest (part of Compass Group Luxembourg).
Through a series of fun and educational activities, children learn how to recognise, prepare and value foods, while understanding that nothing should go to waste and everything can be transformed.

During these workshops, the pupils prepare a taster dish with fresh vegetables, setting aside the peelings to be reused the next day to make a broth served at the canteen.
A tangible and engaging way of teaching about the values of responsible and sustainable food choices from a very early age.

🎥 Find out more in this video

Explore biodiversity from a scientific and explorer’s perspective (April 2025)

A screening of The great migration of life documentary during Earth Week gave 4ᵉ students the chance to discover an exceptional natural phenomenon: the world’s largest animal migration in terms of biomass, which takes place each year along the South African coast at the onset of the Southern Hemisphere winter.
The session was followed by a wonderful opportunity for exchange with Alexis Rosenfeld (diver, photographer and explorer), who came to share his hands-on experience and debate with the students.
This encounter also gave rise to an evening conference, open to interested students and their families.

Raising awareness about climate change through art and science (April 2024)

Open to the general public, the conference about the CAMISSARDE – CArnet de MISSion ARctique Dessiné project, hosted by Agnès Balseur and Laurence Robert, offered an original perspective of climate change.
By combining scientific photography and drawing, the project invites participants to visualise the changing Arctic ice melt by imagining the landscapes of yesterday and tomorrow.
This initiative, supported by the French Polar Institute (IPEV) and the University of Nantes, helped make climate issues more accessible and tangible by appealing to both reason and the imagination.

Providing tools to take action in the face of climate change (December 2022)

Aimed at Seconde students, the ‘Twelve ways to decarbonise our daily lives’ conference, led by Marie-Alix Dalle, an engineer working with Jean-Marc Jancovici, helped to highlight practical ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
The presentation encouraged students to recognise their ability to take action, at an individual level, in response to climate challenges.

As part of Media and Information Literacy  (EMI) and Education for Sustainable Development, two 6ᵉ classes stepped into the role of trainee journalists.
Throughout the school year, the students carried out investigative and writing work focused on Vauban’s educational garden.

Their chronicles, drafted in the form of short news features, address in particular:

• crop pests and the principles of biological control,

• birds observed in the garden during winter.

Supported by their teachers, the students learned how to search for reliable information, cross-check sources using the e-sidoc documentary database, write clearly, cite their sources and illustrate their work.
To end the project, the chronicles were recorded and broadcast on the school’s web radio, Vauban On Air, giving rise to the Vegetable garden chronicles podcast.

🎧 Discover the podcast: episode 1 & episode 2

As part of the ‘Ocean comes to Luxembourg’ (L’Océan s’invite au Luxembourg) project, led by IMS Luxembourg (Inspiring More Sustainability) and the fondation 1Ocean, students from Seconde B took part in a week dedicated to raising awareness about ocean-related issues, culminating in the creation of podcasts.
Supported by experts and working alongside students from the Lycée international de Mersch, they gave a voice to people committed to protecting the oceans and shared their reflections on the vital role marine environments play in our daily lives

🎧 Listen to the podcasts created by the students
🔍 Find out more: read the full article