SCHOOLS

JOIN ADRIAN ON HIS GREEN LAND QUEST

Adrian and the team want schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and worldwide to follow the Emirates NBD Greenland Quest.

In the UAE, in partnership with Emirates NBD and all our partners, we have created an Ambassador Program for pupils who want to make the UAE a Greener Land and follow Adrian’s Quest.

We are looking for schools to support Adrian’s Expedition and to engage pupils in both the environmental issues behind the Greenland Quest for both Greenland and the UAE.

As part of this, this website plus Facebook and Twitter will provide children in the UAE with the opportunity to contact Adrian and to be involved in a global campaign. We hope that other schools worldwide will also become involved through this campaign.

So, if you are a UAE pupil or school, how can your school become involved? We would like to recommend the following:

1. Ask a Teacher to register the school via info@greenlandquest.com. The school will then receive an Emirates NBD Greenland Quest Schools pack which comprises of a DVD from Adrian, a Powerpoint presentation and Adrian’s Green Land Quest wrist-bands.
2. Appoint a class or school spokesperson( somebody who is confident enough to represent the group as a whole)
3. Make an appointment to speak to the Senior Management Team at school. This could include the Headteacher and Deputy Heads. Try to get a Governor to be a part of the meeting as well, if your school has any.
4. At your meeting, present the DVDs and information that has been given to you and explain that you would like to present this during assembly time or during a special assembly. Try to fix a date as soon as possible.
5. In your meeting, explain that you would like to create an action plan on what your school can do to help become a better role model for the environment. Your school may have already initiated some of these but here are some questions anyway that could be asked which will hopefully lead to interesting discussion and further action (there is always more to be done!)
   • Sea temperatures have risen by on average 0.5 degrees C (0.9 degree F) over the last 40 years (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California, USA)
   • How can we involve the school community in following Adrian Hayes’ expedition and learn from his activities and research? This could be through assembly updates, the wrist bands, and regular contact with Adrian through e-mails, reading the blogs on his website and understanding the principles of One Planet Living.
   • Could there be a poster competition to promote the website so that more people are encouraged to visit it?
   • How can we reduce waste in our school, not just the rubbish we produce but the amount of resources we use?
   • How can we cut down on the amount of water and electricity we use at school? Why not suggest a NO LIGHTS DAY to highlight the amount of lighting that is unnecessarily used?  Maybe contact DEWA to come and do a survey around the school. Have monitors to check that lights are switched off when not in use and have best class awards.
   • Can we create more ‘green’ areas around school to help produce more oxygen?
   • What websites/school initiatives are there in UAE specifically designed to give us ideas on how to help?
   • Why not take one image from the final PowerPoint and ask class teachers to brainstorm thoughts and ideas about that image? Introduce the slogan, ‘Take an image and make a difference’ and try to link with local and/or global environmental organisations to help with poverty, pollution or endangered species for example. These images reflect global environmental issues that ultimately affect us all.
   • Set up guest speakers to come into school to talk about local issues, e.g. Marine Conservation. Rick Vance, a member of the expedition support team focusing on Sustainability, will be pleased to visit schools to explain more about his area of expertise.
   • Meet regularly as ambassadors to discuss ideas and progress.

All the things you manage to do will then need to be put into a report and posted on the expedition website by the end of term. This could include:

• Examples of activities done or planned to be done to help the environment.
• Personal comments from students and teachers about how they feel about climate change and sustainability.
• Thoughts from ambassadors about their experiences and what they feel they have achieved.

It is very important to remember that you are very important. You can make a real difference in your school.
However, don’t expect things to happen straight away. Parts of your action plan may only be followed through by your school in September, but at least you would have started!

So go for it, for the sake of your school and the planet!

GOOD LUCK!!

Pete Milne (Education / Schools Advisor)
EMIRATES NBD SCHOOLS  AWARDS

Emirates NBD will offer four cash prizes of 5,000 AED to four UAE schools who show the most engagement in the Emirates NBD Greenland Quest and who can demonstrate how they would utilize their award to make their school environment greener.

All entries must be sent to info@greenlandquest.com once the School has registered their involvement in the Emirates NBD Greenland Quest.