COAST is committed to inspiring the next generation of marine conservationists and has a qualified Marine Biologist who leads our education programme. We can provide lessons to school and activity groups of all ages and stages to show them the wonders of the marine world, raise awareness of environmental issues and prove how we can help overcome these.

Visit us at our Octopus Centre on Arran, and we can help you plan activities for the day, with us and other coastal and marine groups and businesses.

We can also visit you with our Marine Mobile, taking stories and treasures of the sea to you. We regularly deliver talks and run seashore activities with residential school groups from North Ayrshire at the Arran Outdoor Education Centre. We welcome links to mainland schools, and have long-standing relationships with Sunnyside Primary School in Glasgow, Stanley Primary School in Ardrossan, and George Watsons College in Edinburgh.

We are happy to adapt our workshops to your curricular needs. For example, in the past we have set up workshops to monitor biological, physical and chemical changes on the shoreline, adapted activities to complement what children were learning about food webs, designed plankton surveying out on the shore followed by observation sessions in the classroom, and more.

“After COAST had been to visit, my children arrived home excited and energised… It is great to receive more than an ‘it was fine’ in response to asking them how school was”.
Whiting Bay Primary School parent

We like to get young people involved with environmental and social surveys, making use of scientific gear and information technology. For example, students from Arran High School asked and filmed individuals from the community about what they liked about being by the sea (film is currently showing at the Octopus Centre), interviewed coastal and marine businesses and groups about what they do and explored how to get active by the sea. All this was used to create a blog to promote active lifestyles in Arran’s MPA called Wild Arran COAST.

Jenny Stark, our Education and Communications Manager has been leading the COAST education and outreach programme for the last 3 years. She is happy to discuss specific requirements and tailor lessons to best suit your needs. Jenny is experienced in offering support to the John Muir Conservation and Duke of Edinburgh Awards and can offer classrooms sessions or lessons on the seashore.

To plan your visit and discuss costs please contact Jenny. We do our best to accommodate all requests but we appreciate as much notice as possible regarding dates in order to avoid disappointment.

We often have local work experience students and young volunteers who engage in COAST activities and learn what it is like to work with a marine conservation charity.

Marine Education Resource Pack
This pack is a resource for primary school teachers and education leaders, and includes fun and engaging activities; all worksheets are downloadable.