OIS Students Dig Deep for NL Doet at New Terra
Friday, March 14 marked an important day for groups 7 and 8 DEP as the children gave back to the Hoofddorp community by helping out the team at New Terra as part of NL Doet.
Written by Gina van der Vliet, Milepost 3 Flex Teacher
This nationwide volunteer initiative, organised by the Oranje Fonds, encourages people across The Netherlands—including the Dutch royal family—to participate in a day of volunteer work every March, contributing to their local communities.
Located in the heart of Schiphol Trade Park – the most sustainable logistics business park in Europe – New Terra is the place for circular entrepreneurs, pioneers and companies with a green heart. Here, innovation, sustainability and collaboration are worked on to shape the future.New Terra
A Day of Action
After a short city bus ride, groups 7 INT, 7 DEP, and 8 DEP arrived at New Terra at the Rijnlanderweg in Hoofdorp around 10:00 a.m. where they immediately maximised our muscle strength by eating their snacks. We were then quickly briefed on the day by Ms. Maxime (Stichting MeerGroen) and Mr. Franke (SADC) who shared details on the activities our mixed groups would rotate to:
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Spreading compost: Armed with wheelbarrows, the children helped move an impressive 40 m³ of compost across various plots of land. A fun twist? They could earn their wheelbarrow driving certificate by crossing a seesaw at different levels—from empty to fully loaded (or even with a teacher or parent inside!). We’re proud to say all the students are now officially certified!
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Planting potatoes: Roughly 2,000 potatoes were planted by the students, preparing the soil for a future harvest.
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Improving the monastery garden: The children helped lay shells along the pathways in an area where fruit plants grow.
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Insect hunting and nature learning: Guided by Ms. Kim from Groene Kapstok/Green Coat Rack, the children explored New Terra’s grounds on an insect hunt, learning about nature in a newly inaugurated outdoor classroom.
Hard Work, Big Impact
The OIS children worked tirelessly from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m, spreading cheers and positive energy and only stopping for a 30-minute lunch. Their resilience and cooperation made quite an impression on the organisers.
“The enthusiasm and hard work of the schoolkids from the Optimist in the gardens of our monumental farm and sustainable office building (New Terra) has been a great experience for us,” said Jesse Bergman (SADC).
“It was a lot of fun to work together with the future generation on our collective future. We hope to see you back soon to plant some trees, find more animals and harvest those potatoes!”
Instructor Kim Boswijk added:
“The new outdoor classroom can receive many groups for interesting lessons. There is enough space to come into contact with nature in a playful way as students encounter all kinds of things during the experience. After a short explanation about the food cycle they actively got to work and searched for the saviors of nature. OIS has inaugurated the outdoor classroom well and we hope to welcome them again every year!”
What Did the Students Think?
The children were enthusiastic and proud of what they achieved:
“It was really fun,” said Oleg (11) from Group 8. “My favourite was when we got to drive the wheelbarrow filled with compost so that other people could plant potatoes. But it was hard to push the wheelbarrow with people in it!”
“I really liked helping the plants, because there were a lot of mean plants [weeds] trying to attack them,” added Eva (10) from 7 DEP.
“For me, it was fun because it was nice weather and I liked how the instructors [and other volunteers] helped us,” said Lynn (11) from 7 DEP.
“Carrying half my body weight in the wheelbarrow was challenging but also fun,” Yousef (11) from 7 INT laughed.