The Rock Pool Project for Schools
We are passionate about bringing the joy and wonder of rock pools to children all around the country. With our innovative mobile rock pool, we can bring the magical habitat to your school with hands-on, mesmerising activities, all skilfully linked to the national curriculum.
Should your school prefer to explore the rock pools on the beach, we will take care of everything for an expert-led beach visit unlike any other. From risk-assessments and logistical considerations such as toilet and café proximity, to safely guiding your students to discover crabs, shell-fish, anemones and much more in the mysterious rock pools, we will weave learning and intrigue throughout your day.
With our team of experienced and creative teachers working alongside our scientists, we will tailor your trip or visit to match your school’s current topics, cover key national curriculum objectives and provide you with a range of unique, cross-curricular follow up lessons and resources.
We do not simply want to share the love of discovering wildlife for a day with your students – we aspire to plant the seeds of curiosity about our astonishing marine environment for life.
Our organisation has a keen focus on primary school education. Our director Alan Smith is an experienced primary school teacher, with a degree in Marine Biology, based in Cornwall and we can offer inspirational school visits and beach trips for eager young minds of all ages. Our activities can be linked to key curriculum topics such as:
- Identifying and naming a variety of common marine species
- Using drawings and labelled diagrams to record scientific findings
- Adaptations of marine animals and plants
- Grouping and classifying organisms
- Recording and presenting statistical data
- Measuring and quantifying marine life
- Descriptive writing
Beach trips
We can tailor our beach events to suit the needs of your school with flexible locations and itineraries. The key aspect of our beach events are our guided rock pooling sessions, during which children work in teams to photograph their marine wildlife discoveries. These images and records are then uploaded to our database, as well as the National Biodiversity Network. Following each activity we will send you detailed reports including photos of all the wildlife that the children discovered.
Image credit: Grace Hunt
A typical itinerary for the day could be as follows
- Introduction and health & safety
- Strand line scavenge in groups, including plastic pollution awareness discussions
- Rock Pool Wildlife surveys
- Lunch break
- Mobile rock pool marine talk
- Reconvene and reflections on the day
Beach days in the Falmouth area cost from £295 per day and we are able to travel across Cornwall and Devon for a small surcharge to cover transport. For further information check out our Group bookings page.
Mobile Rock Pool visits
We can bring the magic of rock pools direct to your primary school with our fascinating Mobile Rock Pool, expertly filled with a huge variety of astonishing marine wildlife. During a single visit, we can deliver interactive sessions for each specific age group, designed to support the English National Curriculum. We can accommodate up to four classes in a day long visit, with all children experiencing a mobile rock pool session plus an additional interactive activity such as marine wildlife scientific drawing. For further information visit our Mobile Rock Pool page.
