Location	106, Kagita-cho, Toyohashi-shi, Aichi
TEL.	(+81)532-54-1301
Website	http://takakura-gakuen.sua.jp/
Membership	2015

2024 Annual Report

Marine/Environment

Our school’s traditional “Rear Car Volunteer” program was held for the 21st time this year. Since 2019, our school has been involved in cleaning up the coast of Cape Irago, which is positioned as one of the main activities related to the SDGs, “14 Life Below Water”. Organized by the student council, with the participation of volunteer students and the cooperation of the PTA, the cleanup activity has been carried out in cooperation with a local waste disposal company that is active in SDGs activities and has volunteered to transport the waste from the beach cleanup. As a new activity, we also challenged high school students to manage citizen-level volunteer work by allowing the general public to participate. Although the event was cancelled due to bad weather on the day of the event, it was a new initiative that will lead to the next year.

The event was held over four days, July 21-23 and August 24. On the first three days, as in the previous year, the participants were dispersed to clean up the Nishinohama beach at Cape Irago, picking up 420 kg of combustible trash and 220 kg of noncombustible trash. A citizen-participation event was planned for the last date, but was cancelled due to bad weather.

The “Rear Car Volunteer” program is a school event during the summer break, but the “Rear Car Patrol” is also conducted as a regular monthly committee activity. The main initiative is taken by UNESCO committee members appointed by each class, who also invite volunteers to participate in beautification activities around the school.

Sustainable Production and Consumption

The UNESCO Committee and volunteers from all schools are participating in the “Fuku No Chikara (Power of Clothes)” project sponsored by Fast Retailing Co. The project is associated with the SDGs “12 Responcible Consumption and Production”.

In 2024, we were able to collect 70 cardboard boxes of children’s clothing. In addition, all schools are involved in the “Ecocap Collection Activity” of the NPO “Japan Committee, Vaccines for the World’s Children”, and PET bottle caps are collected.

Biodiversity

In cooperation with the Environmental Conservation Division of the Environment Department of the Toyohashi City Office, we are conducting a habitat survey of killifish and other aquatic organisms in the Yagyu River near our school, as well as activities to control specified alien species and clean up the river under the title “Local River Ecosystem Conservation Activities”. The SDG related with this activity should be “15 Life on Land”.

In June 2024, we were able to confirm that killifish were living in the area. However, it was not a group and may have been released from captivity. Although we have not yet confirmed the presence of the southern killifish (Oryzias Latipes), a species endemic to Japan, there was a sense that the environment was conducive to killifish habitat. In addition, the control activities for the Mississippian pond turtles (Trachemys Scripta Elegans) and other specified alien species have enabled us to confirm the presence of native species such as the tamoroko (Gnathopogon Elongatus Elongatus). We will continue our activities and research to obtain more reliable results and information. In response to the designation of loggerhead turtles (Trachemys Scripta) and American crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) as conditionally designated invasive alien species in June 2023, we were able to conduct educational activities in cooperation with the municipal government regarding the handling of designated invasive alien species. In the future, we aim to conduct wide-area surveys and hold educational events in cooperation with the municipal government.

In the “Future Exploration” course (see below), a field for “Environmental Preservation” was also set up, and students explored the ecosystem of the Yagyu River and the conservation of nature.

Peace

Our school is engaged in peace activities in memory of the students who were victims of the Toyokawa Naval Arsenal Air Raid during the time of Aichi Jisshu Joshi High School, the predecessor of our school. “16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions” is associated with the activities.

At the urging of the student council, 12 students volunteered to run the “Peace Tower Ceremony” organized by the Toyohashi Bereaved Families Association. In addition, our Voluntary Activities Club led efforts to clean up the Minatomachi Park Peace Monument and participate in a memorial ceremony sponsored by the Toyohashi Air Raid Memorial Association, among other activities to learn about the history of war and pass it on to the next generation.

In the “Future Exploration” course (see below), a field entitled “Inheritance of Peace” was also established as a school subject, and students conducted exploratory activities related to war and peace.

　

Welfare

As various welfare events that had been canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic resumed, the “Goodwill Festival” sponsored by the Goodwill Bank was held on May 26, and 40 volunteer students participated.

Welfare

As various welfare events that had been canceled due to the Corona disaster resumed, the Goodwill Festival sponsored by the Goodwill Bank was held on May 26, and 40 volunteer students participated. On July 20, nine students participated in a summer festival at Kijuen, a special nursing home for the elderly; on November 3, 31 students attended a meeting for disabled children and volunteers organized by the Toyohashi City Council of Social Welfare; and on November 23, 47 students participated in the “Sukoyaka-no Sato Festival” organized by Sukoyaka-kai social welfare corporation. On December 12-13, a total of 112 people participated in year-end street fundraising campaign, raising 209,657 yen. The money was used to donate goods to four welfare facilities and to raise guide dogs for the blind.

In the “Future Exploration” course (see below), a field of “Social Welfare” was also set up for students to explore welfare-related activities.

International Understanding

The exchange with National Shanhua Senior High School, which has continued across the COVID-19 pandemic since 2016, continued in 2024: Our second-grade preparatory course students interacted with students from the school using Google Meet since September. After getting to know each other and introducing their schools, they gave each other presentations on natural disasters, with an awareness of the SDGs “11 Sustainable Cities and Communities” and “13 Climate Action”. All first-grade students and second-grade preparatory course students exchanged greeting cards with students from National Shanhua Senior High School, and second-grade preparatory course students are scheduled to visit the school in February as part of their school trip.

Students in the second-grade Career Design Course who chose the field of “International Understanding” in the “Future Exploration” course (see below) continued the “Japan Art Mile International Collaborative Learning” program. The partner school was SMA Santo Paulus Pontianak High School in Indonesia. This year, the theme of the cooperative study was “labor” and “job satisfaction. The students started inquiry-based learning in the first semester, and monthly online meetings have been held since September.The SDG related with this collaboration is “9 Decent Work and Economic Growth”.

As of January 2025, the mural is at the partner school, and the completed version will be sent to the Japanese side in March.

Local Cultural Heritage

Yoshida Castle oce stood in Toyohashi Park in Toyohashi City, and the stonewalls and restored iron turrets from that time still remain. On January 18, 29 students from the school participated in a moat cleanup organized by a citizens’ group called the “Yoshida Castle Moat Cleanup Team”.

International Day

Our school has an educational program called “World Friday” every Friday. Teachers from each subject area take turns being in charge of the video program, and the whole school discusses ESD and SDGs. Throughout the year, a variety of topics were covered, including peace, global warming, and insect eating, etc. The November 8 session on insect eating by the Geography and Civics Department is tied to World Food Day on October 16.

Future Exploration

Society is changing at a tremendous pace and becoming more and more complex as events that are difficult to predict and solve occur one after another. In order to cope with such drastic changes, we have been offering the school-set subject “Future Exploration” (two sessions per week) for 2nd grade students of the Career Design Course in the Regular Course since 2023 as a place to acquire the ability to explore (the ability to see things as their own, ask questions, gather information, think and take action). In 2024, students were divided into six fields: “Ecology,” “Inheritance of Peace,” “Social Welfare,” “International Understanding,” “Fair Trade Cafe,” and “Sports Science,” and conducted exploratory learning based on each theme.

Annual Work Plan

ESD Review Meeting (FY2024)

The ESD Review Meeting is held every year in March for all students (grades 1 and 2) as an opportunity to review the year’s ESD activities and to receive the “Volunteer Activity Certificate” issued by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan. In 2025 (FY2024), it is scheduled to be held on March 18, and Yuji Suzuki, President of the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan, will be invited as a lecturer. The title of the lecture will be “‘SDGs for 2030’ and beyond: What should be done, what can be done, and what will be done?

School Exchange (FY2024)

From February 26 to March 1, students of the second-grade preparatory course will go on a school trip to Taiwan, where they will visit their sister school, National Shanhua Senior High School in Tainan City, on February 27.

Activity Plan for 2025

ESD activities will be further enhanced, including the school’s own volunteer activities such as the “Rear Car Volunteer”; the “Future Exploration” course, a school-set subject in the second-grade Career Design Course, will enter its third year and will be further enhanced; on June 10, representative students from our sister school in Taiwan, National Shanhua Senior High School, are scheduled to visit our school.

No related reports available in English.