Cultivating a Sustainable Mindset
Qatar Academy Doha (QAD) is one of the Middle East’s premier educational institutions of 1860 students whose vision is empowering students to achieve high levels of academic growth and personal wellbeing and to be responsible citizens who are locally rooted and globally connected and to demonstrate their environmental consciousness.
As an inquiry-based school, we learn and lead through active engagement of our passions, our questions, and our principles. As we begin our journey of making a difference for the better, we understand our sustainable responsibilities more deeply. We choose what engagements and initiatives will have the most impact and we commit and uphold them. This results in modeling and living an authentic sustainable life in everything we do, challenging all who engage with us and supporting who we reach out to.
Cultivating a Sustainable Mindset (PDF)
As risk-takers and in true collaborative form, it would have been very easy to choose ‘one initiative fits all’ to drive a sustainable program that would have a whole-school impact. But no! We chose to allow every area of our school community, every age, every stakeholder, and every grade level to make sustainability their own. Exploring different avenues by taking on different initiatives to see which raise awareness, passion, and ‘take- up’ from the school, the student, and the parental community is where we are right now, on our sustainability continuum. Each adventure is monitored and reviewed with the aim of making long-term changes and a difference to the environment and therefore people’s lives. Each initiative reaches out to the economic and business community for the same reasons, encouraging the idea of having a bigger impact that has longevity. Therefore, we continue to support numerous initiatives. It has highlighted that creative thinking and communication has taken place, as groups have had to articulate the present issues and plan solutions by their actions. Students’ passions have been invested in, not only in their academic programs but in the way in which they think about sustainability. This has enabled them to think critically as problem-solvers and lead the way forward with their ideas. The articles captured here demonstrate where we are on a continuum of impactful change, as we plan our next steps.
Qatar Academy Doha School knows we play a defining role in nurturing children's mindset and supporting the development of healthy, sustainable habits. Our approach has been simple; we model, inquire, foster knowledge, and support our students to find their passion and lead by example. It is our hope that through our dynamic approach to sustainability our students will find multiple pathways to develop their awareness and confidence to be the change-makers our world needs. Through collaboration with staff, students, parents, and the larger community we look to the future with excitement knowing our approach will continue to transform our school, our students, our planet!
QAD'S JOURNEY: Empowering change-makers by cultivating a sustainability mindset.
Our Eco Warriors and Activists in Action would hard to brainstorm and develop our Primary School Eco Code. Our school aims to develop and challenge environmentally consciousness learners who are locally rooted and globally connected. This code represents QAD’s continued commitment to cultivate a sustainable mindset and empower the future leaders of tomorrow.
As a school we are on mission to capture the “Green Flag” by being accredited by Eco Schools as an environmental responsible and responsive school.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
-Margaret Mead
Qatar Academy Doha (QAD) Primary School continues its mission towards being certified as an Eco School by enhancing and exploring sustainable practices to be awarded the green flag status by the Foundation for Environment Education (FEE). QAD Primary School is in the final stages of their application to be accredited Eco-Schools.
The eco-school committee is made up of student and staff who meet regularly to discuss environmental issues affecting the school and think of ways to overcome them. The committee raises awareness through a variety of initiatives, competitions, and enterprises, and our dedicated team of committee members monitor the results and share these with the wider school community. These include:
QAD is focusing on empowering our student body through multiple leadership development opportunities. There are four branches of student leadership moving forward. Each is used to inspire engagement and increase student voice throughout our school community.
1- Activists in Action
Vision: Empowering students to develop initiatives and take action.
Mission:
2- Eco Warriors
Vision: Empowering and educating the QAD community to develop a keen awareness of environmental issues and helping provoke student-led action.
Mission:
3- Student Council
Vision: Empowering students to champion school engagement and positive climate/culture.
Mission:
4- House Captains
Vision: Empowering and supporting increased student engagement by promoting a healthy active lifestyle through a house system.
Mission:
