Heritage in Schools Scheme

SEASHOREKIDS are thrilled to be a Marine Heritage Specialist for The Heritage Council's, HERITAGE IN SCHOOLS SCHEME.

This fantastic scheme funds marine biodiversity workshops for ALL primary school children at subsidised rates. 

Explore the marine ecology on your local shore.

This workshop takes a full day, and combines a hands-on, classroom based workshop and a field trip to the local beach.

Introduction to Ireland's marine ecology - In class - approx. 1.5 hrs

This workshop is conducted in the class room. Students will be taught about the amazing marine wildlife we have in our waters. They will then be shown different types of Irish shores (rocky, muddy/sandy, shingle) and the different species that inhabit them. We will look at the different sampling methods required in each habitat. This will be in the form of a PowerPoint Presentation and with biofacts (plant and animal samples) for them to handle. Students will learn about tides and lunar cycles, what to look out for on the fieldtrip and how to look.

Field trip - approx. 1.5 hours on the shore

We will then visit the local beach at low tide. Students will explore and discover the biodiversity on the shore. On rocky shores they will search on and under rocks and seaweed and in rock pools, on sandy and muddy shores they will use digging and sieving sampling methods to find the animals and on shingle shores they will be beach combing along the seaweed line. The students will be provided with buckets, nets, spades, sieves, scavenger hunt sheets, identification guides, etc.

We will do a 'show and tell' at the end of the field trip to make sure everyone has seen all the species found.

Back at the school we will report any findings to citizen science projects, such as Purse Search Ireland (for Mermaids purses – shark and ray egg cases), etc.

If you would like your school to get involved in the scheme, please do get in touch.