Eco –friendly JAGS

The younger pupils looked a bit mystified, but for some of us today’s assembly evoked a wave of 70s nostalgia for Wimbledon Common and burrows full of pointy-nosed, furry creatures which do good for the environment. Great Uncle Bulgaria, Orinoco, Tobermoray and friends were famous for collecting and recycling rubbish in useful and ingenious ways, a message which 20 of the girls in the JAGS Environment group delivered to us today. It’s lovely to eat lunch outside, and responsible JAGS girls should remember to keep the beautiful grounds here looking beautiful by taking away their rubbish.

If going back to the 70s wasn’t ‘last century’ enough, the Environmental Group’s research proves that JAGS has always had an environmental conscience. Dr Lilian Clarke was a pioneering, practical Biology teacher at JAGS from 1896 to 1926. She was known here for the establishment of the Botany Gardens: natural order beds for the study of plants and families and was inspirational in the teaching of botany in secondary schools. When she arrived here science equipment consisted of a tray of apparatus left on the Hall platform; when she left there was a well-equipped laboratory, a greenhouse and a large area of land laid out for the Botanical gardens. You can read about her in one of their newsletters, The Big Eco, on the Jags website in the section called Green Initiatives: www.jags.org.uk/jags/about/jags_as_an_eco_school/

When war came more than 300 girls were involved in wholesale vegetable growing, beekeeping and rabbit-rearing in the school grounds to supplement rationing.

So we have a historical interest in bio-diversity and an awareness of looking after our environment in our school genes! You can join in too – 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. We share responsibility to protect our planet by using energy wisely, making more use of environmentally friendly and recycled products, eating more organic food. It’s not a new message, but it bears repeating.

At JAGS we are better than average in our school’s energy consumption, according to the amount of energy used converted into carbon dioxide. Initiatives such as the introduction of electronic mailing through Jags Post and being able to switch off computers overnight centrally will make even more of a difference. Let’s turn our Bronze Eco-Award into a Green Flag! We can always show some Womble initiative to do better, like Mr Byfield and his Biology buddies whose ‘Ban This Sulphur Dioxide’ CD has been re-released. Copies available at £2 from Miss Riddell in the Art department. Staggeringly good value.

Thank you to the Environmental Group for their thoughtful and timely assembly.