Year 7 students designed flags to help celebrate Antartica Day. These are some of the flags that were chosen along with a letter from the UKPN Flags Team thanking them.
Dear Mrs Hock
Thank you for participating in the Antarctic flags programme to help celebrate Antarctica day. We hope your class enjoyed learning about Antarctica and its symbol of international cooperation encompassed by the Antarctic Treaty.
We are pleased to say that your flags have been celebrated in Antarctica.
Photographs were taken by the scientists from the research vessel RRS James Clark Ross. The photographs were taken when the ship went to South Georgia to deliver scientists and supply the research base with food and equipment.
What is South Georgia like? King Edward Point is about 1,400km (860 miles) south-east of the Falkland Islands. Around 170 km long and between 2 km and 40 km wide, South Georgia’s main mountain range, the Allardyce range, has its highest point at Mount Paget (2,960 m). Surrounded by mountains and glaciers the subantarctic island of South Georgia is an important haven for wildlife with gentoo, macaroni and king penguins, to giant petrels, pintail ducks and sooty albatross. Together with South Sandwich islands, these are home to five million seals of four different species, and 65 million breeding birds of 30 different species including the world’s only subantarctic songbird, the endemic South Georgia pipit. In summer, elephant seals and fur seals breed on the beach in front of the research station. The waters around the islands are an important habitat for migrating whales, and are rich in fish and Antarctic krill – a key link in the Southern Ocean food web.
Later the flags were also taken to Bird Island. Bird Island Research Station is an important centre for research into bird and seal biology. Lying off the north-west tip of South Georgia, Bird Island is one of the richest wildlife sites in the world. The research station, active since 1957, was completely redeveloped in 2005 and today provides accommodation for 10 staff
We hope this has been a beneficial experience and that your classes enjoy seeing their designs with our flag bearers in Antarctica. It was a pleasure to see so many wonderfully creative flags and we hope you consider participating again next year. Our social media team will send updates to keep you informed of deadlines for the next season in due course.
Best Wishes
Emily and Jennifer
(UKPN flags team)