Immaculate Conception High in St. Andrew and Westwood High in Trelawny emerged the national winners for 2004 in the Schools Environment Programme (SEP) as the Most Environmentally Aware schools at the programme's National Awards Ceremony, held June 24, 2004. They each walked away with a computer and printer and will share the coveted first place Earth Trophy.

These schools also won sectional prizes for their extraordinary efforts in implementing environmental projects. Immaculate won the Best Income Generating Project and Very Knowledgeable Students prizes while Westwood received prizes for Best Whole School Approach and Best Beautification Project.

Tarah Henlon (left) of Westwood High and Kyla Kerr of Immaculate Conception High hold the Earth Trophy on behalf of their schools

Immaculate had an excellent garbage management programme. They made a variety of items from recycled paper, including greeting cards for sale. Westwood's gardens are probably the best school gardens in the programme, not only because of their natural beauty, but because of the innovative way in which the students transformed rocky hillside slopes and crevices into gardens. Both schools were remarkably good at every aspect of the competition.

Implemented by the Jamaica Environment Trust, Jamaica 4H Clubs and fifteen NGO partners, SEP is the longest running environmental education programme in Jamaica. SEP introduces environmental issues into the curriculum through hands on activities. It is implemented in 353 primary, preparatory and secondary schools in Jamaica involving over 290,000 students and over 500 teachers. The programme is run as a competition and each year the schools are judged on the following areas: Garbage Management, Greening Your School, Starting/Strengthening an Environmental Club and Environmental Research.

One of the judges for the 2003/4 academic year, Candis Hamilton, said: "In most cases, standards were high. In fact, I have been told by those who have worked with SEP for much longer than I have that this is the first year when choosing a winner was so difficult. This year's competition was highly competitive especially among the senior schools.".

The Honorable Maxine Henry-Wilson, Minister of Education, Youth and Culture commended JET for their "sterling efforts in ensuring the best possible stewardship of Jamaica's natural environment" in her address at the Awards Ceremony. She said SEP's activities were important contributions to the performance and output of the education system even though they could not be measured by external exams. Minister Henry-Wilson went on to say that "she wished the media would sometimes highlight these positives because. when added up, you get a different and more positive picture about the work of our schools and teachers."

Sixty schools emerged winners at the regional level where they excelled at various categories of the competition. Fourteen schools were finalists at the national level. Sectional prizes were as follows:

   -    Best Junior school - Duckenfield (St. Thomas)
   -    Best Research Project - Decarteret College (Manchester)
   -    Best Whole School Approach - Westwood High (Trelawny)
   -    Best Outreach Project - Anchovy Primary (Hanover)
   -    Best Beautification Project - Westwood High (Trelawny)
   -    Best Organic Garden - Anchovy Primary (Hanover)
   -    Best Use of Recycled Material in Teaching - Anchovy Primary (Hanover)
   -    Best Income Generation Project - Immaculate Conception High (St. Andrew)
   -    Very Knowledgeable Students - McGrath High (St. Catherine), Immaculate
        Conception High (St. Andrew)
   -    Best Nature Walk - Churchill Primary (Westmoreland)


SEP faces immediate funding challenges, as current funding arrangements expire in August 2004. It is doubtful that the programme can continue at its present size and structure.