Eco-Schools Green Flag Award for La Mare de Carteret High

The Eco-Schools programme aims to encourage young people to heighten their school’s eco-awareness through a seven-step guide targeting three key areas in their environment.

‘I’ve always wanted to do something to help the environment, so when Mr Duarte introduced the club to us, I was happy that I’d get an opportunity to help,’ said Sophia Roberts, 15.

Pedro Duarte, geography teacher and eco-coordinator at La Mare High, first came across the initiative during his time teaching in Scotland.

‘Seeing their ideas flourish in our weekly meetings is a pure pleasure. Their commitment led to this well-renowned accreditation, and they achieved merit status on the Green Flag Award,’ he said.

Many students felt that the occasional assembly explaining eco-friendliness was not enough, and more action was needed.

‘After looking around the school, I couldn’t see much that we were doing to help our environment, so I wanted to do something myself to help,’ said eco-prefect Eleanor Jamieson, 15.

Nineteen pupils ranging from Years 7 to 10 formed the La Mare Sustainability Action Group as part of a student-led process which started last November.

‘Everybody has the same amount of input and chances to put their ideas in,’ Eleanor said.

In order to secure the £200 needed to apply for the award, the students made a presentation to the school’s senior leadership team, successfully arguing why the project was important and outlining their plans to achieve it.

The three topics chosen by the eco-committee were litter, marine and waste as the most immediate areas of interest facing them.

Since then, the group has planned assemblies raising awareness of the environment, organised a beach clean at Cobo which attracted more than 40 people, and conducted a school-wide survey on eco-awareness.

There are also plans to put more bins out around the grounds to prevent littering and encourage recycling.

Months of work was summarised in an acronym for their goals in ‘LAMARE’ – Love our planet, Aim for 5-a-day, Minimise waste, Achieve energy efficiency, Reduce, re-use, recycle, Encourage sustainability.

‘I think it will inspire other schools to try and get the award as well, then we can spread it across the island to build sustainability,’ said Amy De La Rue, 15.

The action group hopes it can renew the award for a second year so it can build on the work by encouraging other schools to take part, getting more boys involved in the project, and focusing on new, different areas such as transport.

‘It’s really, really important to create an eco-awareness in students,’ said Mr Duarte.

‘They are the future.’