First school visit to Shoreham after the summer hols.

A wet and drizzly day marked the first school visit to Shoreham beach following the summer hols. However the weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the children.

There were around 80 children from a school in Horsham. The children were divided into 2 groups, one group would explore the beach, the shingle plants and  strandline. 

The latter would link to their classwork after half term where they would be discovering what creatures lived under water off the beach. The strandline objects give clues to the animals that live off the coast and they also studied the man made objects that pollute the beach.

I led a group rock pooling. After an introduction the children explored the beach in small groups. The adult with each group had an id sheet and some activity sheets to record the animals the saw, where they found them and what they were doing. All the groups would share this information back at school.

We also collected a few creatures and put them in trays and containers on a table I had set up at the top of the beach. This was a chance for the children to get a closer look and to find out more about the animals they had found such as sea anemones, shore crabs, prawns, cockles, mussels, rock pool fish, periwinkle and dogwhelk.

After a rather wet lunch, we swapped over and repeated the actives with the other group.


The children were full of enthusiasm and excitement and were a joy to work with, they had many great questions too.

While we were on the beach a little egret and some turn stones foraged in and around the pools. A kingfisher, that had flown down river did a slow low circuit of the beach before heading off toward the harbout mouth. There were also several terns diving into the sea and catching small fish.

You can find out more about the marine education programme I deliver on the Shoreham Beach Local Nature reserve and across Sussex at http://www.fosbeach.com/education-on-shoreham-beach/