What is Beach School Explorers?
Beach school has the same ethos as forest school, but has a focus on the coastal environment. Essex has one of the longest coastlines of any county in England - around 350 miles - and is one of Essex's most valued assets for its national and international importance for nature conservation, which makes beach school a valuable way to learn about how lucky we are to live here!
Run by a Level 3 Beach School Practitioner/Ofsted Registered Childminder, Lisa Brazier runs Beach School Explorers.
We cover beaches, estuaries, rivers and all inland water and species habitats to connect children to their local watery environments and the curriculum through concepts such as food chains, the water cycle, geology, animal and environmental conservation, and so on.
What do we do?
Beach School Explorers is informal and child-led, and includes lots of fun and interesting activities including rock pooling, scavenger hunts, beach-combing, games, mindfulness, beach and river cleans, crafts and activities all linking with the national curriculum.
Through games and play, Beach School Explorers increases confidence, social skills and self-esteem with hands on learning in groups, or individually. Children love to play at the beach and much of that play involves exploring the natural environment, being curious and discovering real life treasures (sea glass and shark teeth are a few of our favourite things!). We then identify and learn about them at the beach.
Beach School is a completely unforgettable way for children to immerse themselves in the wonders of the ocean, rivers and coastlines. We aim to improve the knowledge of their local coastal environment by connecting them with nature; opening their eyes to this amazing world and inspiring them to care about the future of our earth.
Explore
We explore various beaches, rivers and coastlines. A favourite pastime is crabbing and this is a great way to see creatures up close and in their natural environment.
We teach kindness and respect for sea-life and learn interesting facts by looking up information in various books available to the children at the beach.
We explore rockpools and tidelines for starfish, hermit crabs, Mermaid Purses (Shark egg cases), Anemones, shrimps, sea urchins, mussels, periwinkles etc.
Each creature has a story to tell and we use storytelling to engage the children in their finds.
Safety
We teach safety at the coast and we often visit the RNLI Life boat stations or local coastguards and we learn about the changing weather with the different seasons, tidal changes and how this affects the coastline and sealife.
Creativity
We create our own beach sports; target practice, long jump, crazy golf courses, crab races and water games.
We love to search and discover fossils and 50 million year old shark teeth at Walton on the Naze.
We get creative and make art at the beach and we use natural resources, recycled or upcycled products or sustainable sourced materials.
Beach School likes to encourage creative thinking and problem solving by just exploring and having fun.
The Environment around us
We learn about the environment and how we can protect it. We undertake mini beach cleans during our days at the beach and learn how we can be more environmentally friendly by recycling and upcycling in our everyday lives.
The Thames Estuary is a busy shipping lane and we talk to the children about the cargo ships and identify where they are from using an app which is always informative and fascinating.
Mindfulness at the beach comes in many different ways. We use our 5 senses to listen to the ocean sounds, touch the sand, shells and water. Feel the sand and sea between our toes and the sun on our skin. We taste the sea air and sometimes an ice cream. We watch the clouds and spot shapes and tell stories about our finds.
Lisa and all of the assistants all have DBS checks, Safeguarding Training and 12 hr paediatric first aid certificates.
Beach School is fully insured for childcare, public liability and employment.
Whether you are wanting a home school session, a school trip. holiday club or birthday party for your children or you think a local care home might like to experience our hands on mobile beach school, then please get in touch. We can make beach school bespoke to your requirements.
I was brought up by the seaside and I'm very passionate about encouraging everyone to love the coast and waterways, as I want them to look after it in the future and believe we will protect what we love.