The protest, which was held over lunchtime at St Peter’s School, was organised by a group of young environmental campaigners who named teenage climate-change activist Greta Thunberg as one of their inspirations.
Twin sisters Freya and Imogen and their friend Orla, who are all nine years old and in Year 5, said they had planned the protest –unbeknown to their teachers – with the help of their classmates.
‘We went into all of the classrooms in our school to spread the word about the protest and asked everyone to make placards,’ the three explained.
Freya added that she and her sister first got the idea to hold a climate protest in their school after a conversation they had with their dad in the car one day. Freya added that it got them both thinking that the lack of action in Jersey was ‘a bit embarrassing’.
The three girls also added that they were considering collaborating with other schools around the Island to organise a protest in the Royal Square with the support of Environment Minister John Young.
St Peter’s School head teacher Sam Dixon said she was impressed that the young pupils had taken it upon themselves to organise the protest last week.
‘I think it’s amazing and it was completely out of the blue. One of our school development objectives is to give pupils a greater choice, so for them to act so independently about such an important issue is incredible,’ Mrs Dixon said.
Additionally, Mrs Dixon said that the action of the Year 5 pupils had inspired younger students, as the next day a couple of Year 2 students were standing outside her office window in the playground shouting: ‘Save our planet.’
Imogen and Freya said: ‘We did the protest because we think the school should get involved to help the world and the government to wake up and address this issue. We also did it to stop people polluting our oceans and land with plastic, petrol and diesel.’
The children will be discussing their ideas with St Peter’s School council and eco-committee in the coming months to plan ways in which the school can make a difference to the environment.
