Climate Change, Ocean Recovery & Water Quality

Lesson plans EXCLUSIVE to Surfers Against Sewage Plastic Free School members.

This groundbreaking programme equips and empowers young activists with the tools to create positive, lasting environmental change. To sign up, visit www.plasticfreeschools.org.

These lessons have been specifically designed to help students to develop an awareness of the ocean and climate emergency we are facing right now. Each lesson plan has specific links to the National Curriculum, linking key climate issues to key objectives and outcomes within the current framework, as outlined below.

KS2:

• Our Changing Oceans: Investigate the effect of ocean acidification on marine animals with calcium carbonate shells or exoskeletons (SCIENCE)
• The Regeneration Zone: Explore marine dead zones, recognising that environments can change and creating a sketch regeneration zone plan to positively transform an area of the school grounds (ART & SCIENCE)
• Pipe up for the ocean: Interpret and present real-life water quality data, to compare water companies’ performance, for use in campaigning materials (MATHS)

KS3:

• Fashion Victims: Understand the impact of the textiles industry on local landscapes, environment and the climate, and the challenge of sustainable fashion (GEOGRAPHY)
• Our recovery manifesto: Explore the Ocean Recovery Manifesto, demonstrating that solutions can start at school (ENGLISH)
• Go with the flow: Explore local waterways and potential water quality issues, using a range of sources including maps and aerial photographs (GEOGRAPHY)

Despite being designed for Upper KS2 and KS3, all resources are editable and easily adaptable if you wish to use them for different year groups – which we deeply encourage – as we believe there’s no age restriction on learning about how to protect our planet!