SEGFL Doing a Beach Study

1. SEGFL Doing a Beach Study

2. Aims for the Project • To ensure that children are having the opportunity to learn in a range of environments. • For children to know more about the living things that can be found in a beach habitat. • For children and teachers to use a range of ICT tools. • For teachers to feel more confident about taking children to the beach. • For teachers to know more about the living things at the beach, as well as what to do with children while there. • For children to learn how to look after the beach environment.

3. How the project was constructed The teacher adviser for primary science made contact with: • Local nature organisations • Local councils • Environmental officer • The marine conservation society • Local schools who might be willing to host the training day. • ASK ICT team

4. The picture of the project so far… • 3 areas of Kent will provide some CPD training on using the beach: Deal, Thanet and Whitstable. • 2 coastal development officers will be leading two of the days, the remainder will be run by an environmental centre. • The MCS will aim to provide some form of support to each of the days. • 2 coastal schools have agreed to be the hosts.

5. Agenda for the CPD • Contact details for individuals and organisations. • Health and safety/risk assessments • Planning the visit • How we can safely organise the beach • What can we do on the beach

6. Contacts • Marine Conservation Society -http://www.mcsuk.org/info/contactus/contact+us • Tom Hawkings – Canterbury City Coucil – Coastal Devlopment Officer. Thomas.Hawkins@canterbury.gov.uk • Tony Child – Thanet Coastal Project Officer – Tony.Child@thanet.gov.uk • Rippledown Enivonment Centre -Chris LuckhurstDeputy Head of CentreRippledown HouseTel (01304) 364 854Email chris@rippledown.comWeb www.rippledown.com • Reculver Centre (Kent Wildlife Trust) – Julie Tomsett – Julie.Tomsett@kentwildlife.org.uk • Richard Hayden, Senior Outdoor Education Adviser, KCC, Swattenden Centre 01580 715854 – Richard.hayden@kent.gov.uk • Kate Phiilips – Countryside Partnerships Manager – 01622 221560 cmp@kent.gov.uk • Andrew Berry – Teacher adviser for priamry science. Andrew.berry@kent.gov.uk

7. Health and Safety – Planning the day • Every school should have a trained Education Visit Co-ordinator (EVC) • Outdoor Education Advisors (Richard Hayden and Niall) 01580 715854 (richard.hayden@kent.gov.uk) – BUT please use your EVC as these people are really busy! • If you intend to go into the sea or below the high water line (tide mark) this will be deemed as an ‘adventurous activity’ and so approval will need to be sought from the Outdoor Education Officer. You will need to allow them atleast 6 weeks notice due to their workload. They will obviously consider staff competency and your assessment. • Risk Assessment – See generic risk assessment from their website (http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/UserFiles/CW/File/Policy/Outdoor_Education/Generic_Risk_Assessment/Coastal_Venue_Beach_Activity_0907.xls) .See example from Joy Lane • KCC will not recommend beaches – each school must do its own risk assessment

8. Other things to consider • Coast Guards – be courteous and inform coast guards so that they are aware that a group of children are working at the beach • Reculver Centre – If using the beaches around Reculver please inform the centre so that you can work together on the management of the children at the beach.

9. Health and Safety – things to consider • Tides/currents/waves • Shelving beaches • Access • Being cut off by high seas • Drowning • Falling rocks/cliffs • Temperature • Litter/pollution • Sun/Wind burn • Sand in eyes • Other users – public/fishermen • Student behaviour

10. Risk Assessment form from KCChttp://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/UserFiles/CW/File/Policy/Outdoor_Education/Generic_Risk_Assessment/Coastal_Venue_Beach_Activity_0907.xls

11. Additional Guidance on Risk Assessment for working at the beach • See the additional info on working on beaches from the Outdoor Education Advisers: http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/UserFiles/CW/File/Policy/Outdoor_Education/Additional_Guidance/Beach_Activities_0907.doc

12. Planning for the trip • Check tide times – http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/tides/ • Do a fresh risk assessment after visiting the beach. Check this with your EVC. • Ensure that you have an adequate number of adults. • Letter to parents/carers informing them about the trip– see example • Prepare resources to take to the beach.

13. The actual day • Look at the example of a timetable for an afternoon trip to the beach. • Ensure you have a first aid kit. Include fresh water in case sand gets in eyes. • Ensure you have a dry soap for washing hands • Make sure you have all your resources. • Ensure each adult knows the children they are responsible for. • Ensure all adults and children are well informed about: which parts of the beach they are working on, their behaviour, risks (e.g. water, roads, sun/wind burn, cleaning hands, strangers), etc

14. What to do on the beach – Identifying living things • Set up a meeting station where you will have large containers of water, possibly a wet table, hand lenses and hand wipes. • Allow each group to have a container for collecting their animals – e.g. a cut down milk carton. • At intervals children can return to the meeting station to deposit any find and then they can use the identification materials.

15. What to do on the beach – discussing the finds • Compare living things on the beach to living things on land. • Seaweeds – find different examples and identify where they have been found. • Talk about the different groups of animals and their adaptations to the environment. • Discuss and possibly act out being a food chain

16. Animals to found on the beach • Porifera – sponges • Cnidaria – Anemones, corals, hydroids, jellyfish • Annelida – segmented worms • Crustacea – crabs, lobsters, prawns, barnacles • Mollusca – sea snails, sea slugs, bivalves, cuttlefish • Bryozoa – sea mats • Echinodermata – starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sea cucumbers • Chordata/tunicate – sea squirts • Chordata/pisces – fish

17. Identification Resources • ASK – Rock Pool Identification Charts • Thanet – there are id sheets for the chalky shore (ThanetCoastProject/KentWildlifeTrust) – Tony Child • Collins Pocket Guide -Seashore of Britain and Europe, Peter Hayward, Tony Nelson-Smith & Chris Shields) • Websites.

18. On-line resource – Coolseas by the MCS • http://www.mcsuk.org/coolseas/home

19. BBC Breathing Spaces • http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/images/beachwatchguide.pdf

20. What to do on the beach - Beach Clean

21. Adopt a Beach • MCS Adopt-a-Beach and MCS Beachwatch are coastal environmental initiatives organised by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) involving local individuals, groups and communities in caring for their coastal environment. • The annual MCS Beachwatch event takes place on the 3rd weekend of September every year and the data collected is used for the annual MCS Beachwatch report. • MCS Adopt-a-Beach extends the monitoring to 4 times a year.

22. MCS • Presenter Andy Starbuck thrills pupils and teachers alike when he introduces his life-size, inflatable whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, seals and porpoises. Through a series of activities with volunteers from the audience, Andy explains the threats our marine wildlife faces and how we can all act to protect these amazing creatures.

23. Marine Conservation Society • Adopt a beach • Beach clean • Cool seas www.mcsuk.org

24. Back at school – what to do • Internet – find out more about the living things that were found. • Video-conferencing – use Flash meeting as a way of communicating with the experts and other schools that have been to the beaches. • Micro-site – create a micro-site showing the animals and plants that were found and information about them. • Create presentations.

25. Follow up visit? • If possible, take the children again to the beach at a different time of the year, or to a contrasting habitat. • Note the difference in the animals and plants that were found.

26. Advisory Service Kent Shepway Centre Oxford Road Maidstone ME15 8AW Tel: 01622 203800 Fax: 01622 670509 http://www.kenttrustweb.org.uk/ask/curriculumsubjects/ask_cs_science_pri_home.cfm