World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action Shortlist for Globeducate School

Agora Portals International School has been named in the Top 10 shortlist for the World’s Best School Prize for Environmental Action, with the finals in October.

The premium IB school´s Aula del Mar project has been transforming the way students across Agora International Schools in Spain interact with the marine ecosystem. 

From innovative workshops and excursions to beach clean-ups and an Eco-school accreditation, the school's commitment to raising awareness has seen the marine environment and its conservation incorporated into the curriculum, and this has caught the attention of the judges of the World´s Best School Prizes. 

With awards available for Community Collaboration, Environmental Action, Innovation, Overcoming Adversity, and Supporting Healthy Lives, the aim is to celebrate schools everywhere for the pivotal role they play in developing the next generation of learners and for their enormous contribution to society’s progress, especially in the wake of COVID.

The Prizes were established to share the best practices of schools that are transforming the lives of their students and making a real difference to their communities.

Vikas Pota, Founder of T4 Education and the World’s Best School Prizes, said:

“The schools shortlisted for the World’s Best School Prizes, no matter where they can be found or what they teach, all have one thing in common. They all have a strong school culture. Their leaders know how to attract and motivate exceptional educators, inspire change, and build excellent teaching and learning environments.

“I must congratulate Agora Portals International School on being named in the Top 10 shortlists for the World’s Best School Prizes 2023. Schools across the globe will learn from the story of this trailblazing Spanish institution and the culture it has cultivated.”

Agora International School has been transforming the way students interact with the marine ecosystem through its Sea Room / Aula del Mar project, inspiring a new generation of sustainability champions and reinforcing the Globeducate mission to prepare each student to be a global citizen who can shape the world.

Agora Portals International School’s "Aula del Mar" project is part of the larger Agora Posidonia Experience project and since the Sea Room’s opening in November 2021, the school has hosted more than 150 workshops for 3- to 18-year-olds in Globeducate´s Agora International Schools. 

The project is a comprehensive programme that includes a series of workshops, presentations, talks, excursions, and activities throughout the students' academic life. The Vellmari Association, with Manu San Felix, a well-known National Geographic explorer, designed a detailed and age-specific educational programme of workshops that are held once in each school term. The Palma Aquarium Foundation and the Mar de Fondo Association also conduct specific workshops for all student age groups. All courses include two annual school trips to marine environments, which also include beach cleaning activities.

Carolina Rodriguez Inciarte, CEO of Globeducate Spain and Andorra, said:

We are very proud of this nomination for the World's Best School Prizes thanks to the Aula del Mar project. This was a project borne from the educational community and for all ages, which reaffirms our philosophy to educate all students about the importance of caring for the oceans not only from a theoretical point of view. Our wonderful facilities in Agora Portals International School bring this learning to life in an engaging environment and we hope it will be an inspiration for many schools around the world.”

The school's efforts have been widely applauded by local media, highly valued by local authorities, and even awarded the Onda Cero Mallorca 2022 Environmental Award. Agora Portals International School was the first school in the Balearic Islands to achieve Eco-school accreditation, receiving the green flag in June 2022. The school has been certified as a European Blue School.

Next steps

The Top 3 finalists for each of the five World’s Best School Prizes will be announced in September 2023 followed by the winners in October. The winner of each Prize will be chosen based on rigorous criteria by a Judging Academy comprising distinguished leaders across the globe including academics, educators, NGOs, social entrepreneurs, government, civil society, and the private sector.

A prize of US$250,000 will be equally shared among the winners of the five Prizes, with each receiving an award of US$50,000. 

All 50 shortlisted schools will be invited to share their best practices through events on the T4 Communities app or School Transformation Toolkits that showcase their “secret sauce” to innovative approaches and step-by-step instructions on how others can replicate their methods to help improve education everywhere.

For more information on the Posidonia "Aula del Mar" Project read more here.