On Monday 8th June, World Ocean Day brought a wave of activities for the children at Pocklington Prep and Pocklington Lower School. The mission statement for the day was: “On World Oceans Day, people around our blue planet celebrate and honour our ocean, which connects us all. Get together with your family, friends, community, and millions of others around out blue planet to start creating a better future.”
Pocklington students took the message on board did just that and more!
Class teacher Romney Walton said "It was a wonderful opportunity for all the children to virtually become more aware of the world around them as they came to understand the impact that they can have on it, spending the week exploring the world’s oceans both online and in the classrooms."
Year 1 engaged with their creativity to produce both posters and ocean pictures as well as build a giant sea turtle made purely from recycled materials.
Year 2 followed suit as they too designed wonderful posters, as well as writing their own non-fiction books about the five world oceans based on themes inspired by the World Ocean Day.
Year 3 designed some more thoughtful posters as they shared messages on how we can protect the oceans they explored the unique diversity of the creatures in the oceans and created their very own species, considering what it would need to survive in its habitat and how human actions may affect these delicate environments.
Year 6 spent the whole week celebrating World Ocean Day as they learnt more about the Oceans through ‘Blue Planet 2’, helping the students to focus on some of the less known issues affecting the oceans today. The students discussed noise pollution and how it can affect how fish breed, how individuals can reduce their carbon footprint to help stop corals dissolving and also how to farm food from the oceans in a sustainable way. The students later created and delivered informative PowerPoints on their favourite sea creatures and the challenges they face today. In class, Matthew spoke about sharks and how they are killed for their fins for soup. Anna, on the other hand, voiced the concerns today for sea horses as they face terrible diseases whilst Olive taught the class about how turtles are at risk from the rising plastic levels and the disturbance of their egg laying spots.
Year 7 also made posters in art lessons highlighting issues with ocean pollution.
Unfortunately, the Prep and Senior School were unable to take part in the ‘School Beach clean-up’ planned by the Prep School Student Council and Senior Eco club.
All in all, the students had a wonderful week learning about how the oceans are being affected and have all pledged to reduce their carbon footprint and help clean up the beaches when possible.
But what else can be done to support the Oceans?
There are numerous ways in which everyone can help. Make sure to check out any future clean ups and events on the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust website:
https://www.ywt.org.uk/events?tags=266
You can also try the July Plastic Challenge:
https://www.mcsuk.org/campaigns/plastic-challenge-home
Also you can learn more about the ocean and carry out some experiments at home: https://commonseas.com/projects/ocean-plastics-academy
There is a youth section you can get involved in if you are inspired to help the future of the Oceans:
https://worldoceansday.org/youth/
For an album of the excellent work the pupils produced please click here.