Headmaster's Environmental Committee 1999 Report
- Ken Ginn 7A (Chairman)


Off to a slow start some time through the second term, the 1999 Headmaster's Environmental Committee did not manage to complete all of its major aims set at the start of the year.
Having no master for guidance until Term 2, the committee attempted to focus mainly on the issues of litter, the availability of suitable drinking fountains, and the surroundings of the new library area.
With the departure of Mr Morris on his Woolf-Fisher Scholarship and the untimely death of Mr Mackinlay, Mr Moore became the Acting Headmaster of the school, and with his newfound power, could at last advocate his life-long plan for an effective litter programme. The promise of holding back the school after 3:15 everyday if the conditions of the grounds did not improve was the solution, albeit a temporary one, to Grammar's terrible litter problem. The installation of new plastic bins around the school at the start of the year also helped alleviate the problem.
Unfortunately, due to the hiring of a part-time gardener and plans already made for improvements to the new library area, including new seating benches, the traditional "planting of trees" task of the committee effectively ceased to exist, urging future committees to think innovatively for new potential projects.
On the drinking fountain front, the school is currently interested in the idea, and we are told that plans for that will go ahead in the future.
All in all, a disappointing year for the Environmental Committee, fated from its ill beginnings to fall short of success. It is advised that future committees start much earlier on in the year, that members actually turn up to meetings and do their work, that the committee actually work as a team, and that they seek greater staff support. Unlike other spoon-fed committees, the Environmental Committee has little guidance and has no set course to continue from the previous year. Students wishing to join this committee [God save your souls] must be genuinely interested in putting a great deal of thought and effort into new and long-term ideas in order to improve the environment of the school. It is only then that the Environmental Committee will be successful, and it is only then the it will be able to properly fulfil its role in the workings of the school.