St. Jago Cathedral Prep was named the “Most Environmentally Aware School” for 2005/6 at the Jamaica Environment Trust’s (JET) Schools’ Environment Programme (SEP) National Awards Ceremony.  St. Jago emerged the winner from approximately 120 schools islandwide and walked away with the top prize of the First Caribbean International Bank (FCIB) trophy and a 20” flat screen television.  They also won national prizes for Best Whole School Approach and Best Environmental Display, and regional prizes for Environment Club and Environmental Research. Second and third places went to St. James College and Port Antonio High respectively.

A student of the St. Jago Cathedral Prep receives the first place trophy for SEP 2005-2006 from Mr. Milton Brady; General Manager of the First Caribbean International Bank

Guest speaker, Mr. Peter Espeut, Executive Director of the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation (C-CAM), said he was pleased that so many Jamaicans are now learning about their Caribbean environment and not those of foreign countries as it was in colonial times.  “A programme like SEP is nation building.  As Jamaicans we need to know about our island and its residents. The Americans know about their bald eagle and the Canadians about their maple trees, but we Jamaicans don’t know about our skink and peripatus, or the hundreds of plants found in Jamaica and nowhere else in the world,” he said. 

Sherine Bryan, a teacher at St. Jago Cathedral Prep said her students had learned a lot about the environment. “They love being a part of the programme and show great enthusiasm when doing activities like planting flowers or even cleaning up the school grounds!  SEP is a very important in the schools and St. Jago Prep will definitely continue to be a part of SEP,” she said. 

St. Hugh’s Preparatory School in Kingston won national prizes for Best Community Outreach and Very Knowledgeable Students, while Clonmel Primary and Junior High in St. Mary and Liberty Learning Centre in Portland won national prizes for Best Kept School Yard and Best Use of Recycled Material in Teaching respectively.   

Other national winners included the schools in the Advanced Schools Research Competition. West Indies College Prep won first place for the second consecutive year for their research entitiled “Water Conservation.”  Second place was awarded to Negril All Age for their research entitled “Decreasing Solid Waste at Negril All Age” and third place went to May River Primary for their research entitled “The Pollution of May River.”  

The Schools’ Environment Programme is currently in its 9^th year. It is the most comprehensive environmental education programme in Jamaica and to date has been implemented in 353 schools islandwide, training over 600 teachers and more than 350,000 students.  The programme is supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture and other major sponsors such as the CHASE Fund, GOJ/CIDA ENACT, Jamaica Energy Partners, First Caribbean International Bank, Nestle Jamaica Ltd., Citigroup, Industrial Gases Limited, URGE, West Indies Alumina Company and Jamaica Producers Group.