Local primary teacher wins national environmental award.
Jenni Dale, A Primary Teacher from Chingford Hall Primary School in Essex, has won an Earthwatch Environmental Award for Primary Teachers and Educators and the opportunity to join leading scientists on a field research project in the UK.
The Earthwatch Environmental Awards for Primary Teachers, launched in December 2002, are open to all primary school teachers and conservation educators in the UK and are part of a national award scheme run by the international environmental charity Earthwatch and supported by a donation from GlaxoSmithKline.
Twenty teachers have won awards this year by successfully demonstrating how this scheme would benefit their teaching and the wider community.
On Earthwatch's Britain's Basking Sharks project, Jenni will help Earthwatch scientists to monitor the social and reproductive behaviour of the basking shark while examining any threats that may exist to the population and in turn, what can be done to protect them.
As a team member Jenni will play an active role in sighting sharks and recording habitat data while sailing in beautiful waters off Western Cornwall. Not only will she play an important role in the conservation effort, but she will also have the opportunity to learn about the surrounding area and its wild fauna and marine life, including the grey seal, the harbour porpoise, the bottlenose dolphin, the minke whale and a myriad of seabirds.
Jenni says, 'I feel really honoured to win this award. I have always been drawn to the importance of conservation. Taking part in this Earthwatch project will give me a direct opportunity to be involved in what it takes to study the environment and find ways to protect it.'
Sharon Williams, Head of Environmental Engagement at Earthwatch, says, 'This is the second year for these important awards that give teachers and conservation educators the chance to look at environmental issues in a way that is inspiring and immediate. This enables them to go back to their classrooms and communities with increased awareness about conservation and with new ideas, creating a network of ambassadors for the environment.'
Jenni will also be given a £125 Community Action Grant to design and develop a conservation project in her school or community.
For details about the 2005 Earthwatch Environmental Awards for Primary Teachers, please contact: Julie Mackay, Programme Office, Environmental Engagement, Telephone: 01865 318826, fax: 01865 311 383 or email: awards@earthwatch.org.uk
For press information, images and interviews contact:
Zoe Gamble, Press Officer + 44 (0) 1865 318806/ zgamble@earthwatch.org.uk
Editors Notes