At St. Andrews International School Sukhumvit S107 in Bangkok, we help instil the value of ecological preservation and environmentalism among the children under our care to help them take care of the Earth once they themselves inherit the planet.

We do this by teaching them resiliency and empathy that develops every aspect of their character. It’s through our holistic approach to education that we’re able to ensure that the young minds entrusted to our care develop into successful leaders of tomorrow.

We’re not just focused on academics alone. We also wish to develop children to become more responsible for both themselves and the environment around them.

We wish every young learner under the wing of St. Andrews Sukhumvit to become well-rounded individuals capable of taking care of ecological issues as part of their societal and environmental responsibility.

What is Environmental Education?

Environmental education (EE) is ostensibly education regarding environmentalism and conservation efforts to prevent the youth of today from undergoing even worse environmental consequences than those we’re already facing.

As we speak, species after species have gone extinct, whole ecosystems had their worlds turned upside down due to capitalism, greed, consumerism, and overconsumption.

EE helps children learn about built and natural environments. It also teaches them of all the issues impacting Mother Earth or the planet we live in as well as the actions they can take to improve and sustain its wellbeing.

“As inheritors of this planet, the youth generation should be taught to value conservation efforts, environmental issues, and ecological activism to make up for the failures of their predecessors.” (Teacher Quote)

It’s unfortunate and unfair, but previous generations have failed the current youth in regard to preserving the health of the planet, leading to consequences like the depletion of natural resources, the increasing amount of garbage, wastefulness, and climate change.

It’s therefore in the best interests of today’s children to learn about taking care of Mother Earth early on in childhood so that they could do better than their predecessors in addressing this alarming turn of events regarding the wellbeing of the planet.

The Benefits of Environment-Friendly Programmes and Eco Community Service among the Youth

EE has multiple benefits for not only the youth of St. Andrews Sukhumvit but also for our erstwhile educators, the school at large, and for many communities.

Because holistic learning involves helping children from primary and middle school turn into dependable high school teenagers and college-aged young adults, it’s in their best interest to learn environmental responsibility at a young age.

We care about turning every generation of children into the best they could be, even to the point of making up for previous generations’ shortcomings when it comes to taking care of the world at large.

We’ll do things like take these young minds outside on field trips to learn more about the planet or find teachable moments on nature walks and community service cleanup sessions.

Our St. Andrews Sukhumvit teachers are coordinating with their parents, so they’d receive two-way support in fulfilling their academic, socio-emotional, and EE endeavours.

We here at St. Andrews are long-time supporters of EE. We’ve made it our passion to inspire future generations to become better than past generations when it comes to applying sustainability initiatives or being more consistent in waste management or recycling.

The Many Sustainability Initiatives Available in S107

There are a number of sustainability initiatives and EE programmes available in St. Andrews Sukhumvit British International School S107 that help the children learn the basics of taking care of the environment before them, which should extend to taking care of the planet at large once they’re older.

• Tree Planting: The school campus of St. Andrews Sukhumvit is huge enough to allow ample space for large trees to be planted there. Many of the trees in the location were planted by the children studying there. Over the years, we’ve had every child add a plant to our covered walkways.

  Over the course of a number of weeks, every young person planted a tree, shrub, or some species of plant into environment-friendly coconut planters. This has resulted in spectacular, ecologically favourable results.

• Paper Recycling: Every St. Andrews class has two paper-recycling bins. The first one receives reusable scrap paper and the other has crumpled or used paper sent for recycling purposes. Recycled notebooks are made by the Grow Green Committee from scrap paper.

• The Secret Garden of S107: There’s a secret garden at St. Andrews Sukhumvit that serves as our school’s GrowGreen Eco committee’s focal point of activities. It’s available for access for all members of the school, from the children to the instructors.

  The youth of all ages work in this garden during different times of the school year. They’re taught how to take care of the garden as part of their annual extracurricular activities.

• Animal Welfare Week: There’s a week every school year marked on the calendar as reserved for Animal Welfare Week. It helps spread awareness of animal rights and raises money to help take better care of them through animal welfare charities.

• Food Waste Reduction: The school also has compost bins available. That’s where all organic waste of the school goes for conservation. Leftover food and spoiled dishes can be used in the Secret Garden of S107 as organic fertiliser.

  This is certainly a better way to manage such waste compared to just throwing it into garbage bins, landfills, and sewers. They’re also fed to the school worm farm for good measure. Food waste is also avoided via in-school waste reduction campaigns.

• School Pond: After seeking feedback from the children on how to make St. Andrews more environmentally-friendly and sustainable, they suggested building a school fish pond, which was completed recently.

• Recycling and Plastic-Free Canteen: We have recently joined the “Trash Lucky and Won” programme to encourage more recycling of reusable objects like soft drink bottles and cans in the campus.

  On the other hand, the canteen in St. Andrews has banned the use of plastic water bottles even though these are also recyclable due to their environmental impact. All children are told to use refillable bottles instead.

• Worm Farming: Unlike other international, private, or public schools, we at St. Andrews also delve in worm farming (vermiculture) for several practical reasons. The worms help in our food waste composting programme so we can save money on compost bins. They also provide worm castings, which also serve as amazing organic fertiliser, among other things.

The Verdict

It’s our mission at St. Andrews International School Sukhumvit S107 in Bangkok to help our young minds to realise their full potential and become even more responsible adults when it comes to environmentalism and conservationism.

It’s their civic responsibility to do community service but also their responsibility as inheritors of the planet to take care of our ailing world to full rehabilitation, one generation at a time.

It’s not enough that they take the baton of responsibility from previous youth when instilling the responsibility of taking care of this planet. They should do even better than the ones before them as part of Generation Z, Alpha, and beyond.

St. Andrews Sukhumvit, like many other St. Andrews International Schools in the nation, is part of the Cognita School Group. They’re an international school management company with branches throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

If you wish to learn more about St. Andrews Sukhumvit, enquire now. You may choose to experience our in-person campus tour or you may opt to explore our campus virtually through our interactive virtual tour.