Flag of Montserrat

The students of the St Augustine Roman Catholic Primary School in Montserrat, are very excited about joining Sandwatch, and we send greetings to all the Sandwatchers and Environment Clubs around the world.   

Due to volcanic activity in Montserrat since 1995,  most of us  had to move from our homes in the “unsafe” areas near the volcano, and those of us who have stayed in Montserrat have had to start new lives in the safe northern area of the island.  Our school also had to move to a new location.   We have lost access to some of our beaches and other natural habitats,  so we have to protect those that we are able to use now.   We have started out with a general focus on protecting our environment, as this has a special meaning for us.  We would like to tell you about a few activities we have been doing.  Students and teachers decided that in order to spread our message, we needed to start “at home” !  The pupils of Grade One (with their teacher Mrs Hixon),  spearheaded an anti-litter campaign among their schoolmates, and composed a song “Please Don’t Be A Litter-Bug”. 

Map of Monserrat (click to enlarge)

They taught the song to the whole school.   They also designed a fun-filled way to dispose of garbage by making basketball hoops attached to garbage bags.  Our entire school grounds are now kept so clean, and visitors to the school comment on how litter-free it is.   We will be presenting our idea at our Science Fair in July, in the hope that other schools and communities will try our idea. The Grade Six students also kept a detailed record of everything that was thrown away in their households for one week.  They were amazed at the number of plastics, paper, glass, tin, and other materials that were discarded in such a short space of time.  They are developing this exercise for the upcoming science fair,  by making projections of the amount of garbage disposed of by all households on the island over the course of one year, and making recommendations on how we could produce less garbage.
Students of our school held a fund-raising ‘Walkathon’, which ended at Woodlands Beach,  one of our main turtle-nesting beaches.  The students did a clean-up of the recreation area at the beach.  This was an important exercise, as plastic bags and other debris could be blown into the sea and cause danger to sea life as well as pollute the sea water.  In a few weeks, we will be going to examine the beach again,  to see how, and where, turtles use the beach for laying their eggs.  We will be doing further beach studies with the staff of the Fisheries Department.    We are excited about protecting and preserving our environment so that we can all enjoy it now and in the future.    
Ann Marie Dewar and Mary Hixon,Teachers, St Augustine R. C. Primary School, Montserrat