Start a bee group at your school and get children excited about the environment!
"Let's make your school a home for bees together! Find out how to do it here!" - Julia Eisenberg — School Bee Project Manager at the nonprofit City Bees
Completion of the beekeeping course on 8 weekend dates with an average of 2-3 hours plus your own preparation and follow-up; 4 of these dates are in spring/summer, some during the holidays. Additionally, 20-30 hours of bee care per year. Bee groups: optimal weekly or bi-weekly meetings. Break during the holidays.
Put together a team of 3 educators
Talk to your colleagues about the idea and look for two allies, preferably from the afternoon care team, because you will be running the bee group outside of regular lessons anyway. Talk together about how you can organize the necessary time for the beekeeping course and the implementation of the Bienen AG. Think long-term, because you can only reach many children over the years.
For info:
The beekeeping course will take place on 8 dates from the end of April 2024 to the end of April 2025, with the first 4 dates being completed by the beginning of September. All appointments take place on weekends and in Frankfurt. The appointments vary between 1 and 3.5 hours in length. There is also an accompanying booklet and the preparation of all appointments as video consultations. You also have a supervising beekeeper at your side.
Secure the support of your school management
Bringing bees to school means taking responsibility for animals. You get two honey bee colonies from city bees. This means that you will end up being responsible for up to 100,000 honey bees!
So that you have time to look after the bees, the school management should give you the hours if necessary. If a teammate is absent or no longer exists, a successor must be found so that the care of the honey bees and the bee group can continue to be secured. This is also easier if the school management is on board.
Arrange a site assessment with Stadtbee
Contact Stadtbienen and make an appointment to inspect the schoolyard. The team will send a beekeeper to you to check whether the schoolyard is suitable for bees to settle. The following points must be met:
Create a plan to raise €10,000
ChangeX only provides the starting sum with which you can start the program. In order to participate in the program for the full three years and cover the costs of support, you must collect €10,000 during the first year.
You can consult with city bees and exchange ideas. However, collecting the money is up to you.
If you have not collected the amount, the program will end after one year. You will lose beekeeping support for the 2nd and 3rd year, didactic advice from city bees in the 2nd and 3rd year, access to the video portal, participation in the program evaluation and connection to the school bee community. But that's the worst case scenario - if you've only raised part of the sum, you'll discuss with Stadtbiene what's possible with it.
As part of the qualification, you present a plan of how you want to collect the €10,000 within a year.
Start your school bees in spring 2024
If you have successfully completed all steps, you will start the program in spring 2024! You get access to the beekeeping course, materials and teaching aids are delivered, you get to know your beekeeper and settle the honey bees together. At the same time, you now have a year to raise the remaining finances.
The school bee adventure begins! 🐝 🎉
