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Waves break on Chesil Beach Natasha Ewins

Workshops

2 minute read

Our workshops and assemblies are a great opportunity for young people to learn more about the UK's amazing seas and how to look after them

How it works

Our assembly and workshop sessions have been designed to educate and inspire young people to care for our ocean.

Our team of experienced staff and volunteers will come to you and deliver one assembly followed by a workshop, which can be delivered up to three times throughout the day.

The sessions are free of charge and available to schools and groups in key areas of South West, South coast and North East England, Wales, and Scotland, and are suitable for ages 5-11.

Find out what's on offer below and then use our booking form to get started.

Scottish Education Roadshow, Hope Cottage Nursery, Edinburgh. Kirsty Andrews.jpg

Credit: Kirsty Crawford

Assemblies

Start the day with one of our assemblies for your whole school, year, or group. These sessions provide an important overview of the ocean around us here in the UK - read on to find out what's on offer:

Who we are

Learn all about marine conservation and what being an ocean charity really means. We'll take a journey through our history right up to the state of our ocean today, and talk to your group about our role in protecting the ocean and introduce ways in which we can all help save our seas.

Boscombe Beach GBBC 2016 Volunteers Jack Holt

Credit: Jack Holt

Careers in conservation

There are many ways you can get involved in marine conservation, from marine biologist to marine advocate. In this session we'll explore how the subjects you take at school could lead to a career in helping to protect the ocean.

Big Seaweed Search.jpg

Our latest campaign

From plastic pollution to overfishing and climate change, our team of scientists research our ocean and assess the state of the sea. Learn more about the latest research, how we use this information to design campaigns, and how they help the ocean recover.

Plastic litter in the ocean Rich Carey

Credit: Rich Carey via Shutterstock

Workshops

Following an assembly, we can then deliver a maximum of three 45-60 minute (depending on your timetable) interactive workshops throughout the day to groups of up to 30 young people.

All of our workshops connect to our self-led lesson plans. The workshop will introduce your chosen ocean theme, set the scene and inspire pupils to explore the topic further, and you can then follow the workshop with a lesson or even dedicate a whole term to the topic by using our self-led resources.

Find out more about the sessions below:

Amazing ocean

Explore the incredible diversity of our seas by learning how animals are adapted to their habitats and how ecosystems are linked.

Find our linked resources on our Amazing Ocean page.

Mediterranean gulls flying in the sky with a barrel jellyfish underwater Costa Brava Spain Damsea

Credit: Damsea via Shutterstock

Sustainable seafood

Learn where our seafood comes from, how it's caught, and what makes food sustainable.

Find our linked resources on our Sustainable Seafood page.

Trawler Net on commercial fishing boat Anney Lier

Credit: Anney Lier via Shutterstock

Marine litter

Begin to study how litter reaches the ocean, how it can cause harm to wildlife, and how we can all do our bit to help reduce the plastic tide.

Find our linked resources on our Marine litter page.

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Credit: Aled Llywelyn

Protect the ocean

Discover how your school is connected to the ocean and explore how your school can help in the fight to protect it.

Find our linked resources on our Protect the Ocean page.

Shallow waters in summertime in the Hebrides on the West coast of Scotland Joost Van Uffelen

Credit: Joost Van Uffelen via Shutterstock

Book now

These sessions have been designed to inspire young people aged 5-11 to appreciate and care for our ocean, and are available free of charge in the South West, South East, and North East of England, Wales and Scotland. We would, however, welcome fundraising activities to contribute to our costs.

We'll start the day by running an assembly for your whole school, year, class or group (30 mins) and follow this with one of our workshops (45-60 mins). Our workshops can be delivered up to three times throughout the day to different classes or groups.

Use our booking form to get started, and our team will be in touch soon. If you have any questions please contact us at education@mcsuk.org.

Crab shell beach finds during the Great British Beach Clean 2020 on Rottingdean Beach Billy Barraclough

Credit: Billy Barraclough

Explore our amazing ocean in school or at home with resources for teachers, families and young people.

Dive in!