Kingston Grammar School is dedicated to creating a more sustainable and equitable future for everyone; we need to be kind to each other, ourselves and the planet.
Established in May 2022, The Kindness Council was a group set up to develop the School’s culture in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Our ambition is to engage the School and wider community addressing the SDGs through teaching, co-curricular activities and overall school operations.
This framework helps us to link some of the important work we are currently doing in relation to health and wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion, community and partnerships and environmental sustainability. It also allows us to reflect on what we could and should prioritise going forward and will form a core element of the School’s strategic plan and future direction.
To further develop this work the School Captain team established the Student Action Council in 2023. This group sits within the Kindness Council and recognises the importance of empowering students to lead. Distinct from the School Parliament, the Student Action Council aims to offer support and resources for student-initiated ideas, fostering a creative mindset among students to enhance our school and community. Participation is open to all, with representatives specialising in specific areas related to the SDGs.
These initiatives, along with the ensuing projects, collectively strive towards the shared objective of fostering kindness and sustainability within the school and beyond.
In January 2023 The Kindness Council at Kingston Grammar School lead a community-wide focus with the aim of educating and developing our School’s culture in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Throughout our Global Goals Week students took part in a ‘KGS Clothes Swap’ to raise awareness of fast fashion. Staff engaged with ‘Blue Monday’ wellbeing sessions where members of the staff body attended exciting workshops and classes to learn new skills and have fun during the week of ‘Blue Monday’. We were also delighted to welcome Old Kingstonian Dr Nathan Robinson for a live presentation on ocean conservation.
In 2015 marine biologist Dr. Nathan Robinson (OK 2002) was filmed removing a plastic straw from a sea turtle’s nose driving global anti-plastic campaigns. We were delighted and honoured to have Nathan join us for a unique webinar during our KGS Global Goals Week.
Ocean Conservation Going Viral webinar is available to view here: https://youtu.be/ghbySE7PxAc
%20(2).jpg)
- If you are interested in finding out more about Nathan’s work you can follow him on Instagram here @drnathanrobinson.
- Nathan also regularly posts turtle cam films on YouTube. Follow him here @drnathanrobinson.
- Dr. Nathan Robinson featured as one of our guests in series one of The KGS Podcast. Listen here
Social media has revolutionized the way that we communicate with one another, yet we often overlook the power of these tools to connect people to the natural world. I experienced first-hand the capacity of social media to change people's behaviour on a global-scale when a video of me removing a plastic drinking straw from a sea turtle’s nose went viral in 2015. This video has now been viewed 100s of millions of times across several social media platforms and has been credited as serving as a catalyst for the eco-friendly movement against single-use plastics. Being inspired by the impact of this video, I have spent the last 7 years exploring new avenues to keep using video footage to simultaneously answer important ecological questions while also engaging communities worldwide in ocean conservation. These projects, many of which have made international headlines, have included mounting cameras onto the shells of sea turtles and recording the first footage of a live giant squid in US waters. In my presentation, I will use my personal story as a platform to discuss how social media can be used as an effective platform for science communication. Moreover, I will share share lessons that I learned on my journey that can help anyone aiming to change behavior on a global-scale.
Dr Nathan Robinson
Dr Nathan Robinson is a Marine Biologist and Science Communicator whose research answers important ecological questions while simultaneously engaging global audiences in marine conservation. During his career, he has been at the center of several viral videos. These have included a video of him removing both a plastic straw from the nostril of an endangered sea turtle and filming the first footage of a giant squid in US waters. Dr Robinson received a Masters of Marine Biology at Southampton University and was nominated as the highest achieving student of his graduating class. Next, he moved to Purdue University where we received a Ph.D in Biological Sciences. After completing his formal education, Dr. Robinson accepted a job running the Goldring-Gund Marine Biology Station in Costa Rica before moving to The Bahamas as the Director of the Cape Eleuthera Institute. He currently works at the Institut de Ciencies del Mar in Spain and for Ocean Conservation Exploration and Education Foundation (OCEEF) in the USA.
