Amy Ellis

This Spring and Summer Wessex Rivers Trust is taking a different approach to river education. Any normal year, we would be on the riverbanks teaching primary school children about the incredible hidden world below the surface of our chalk streams. This year, we have adapted our strategy and moved to online education and distance learning. 

Through our social media platforms we are using #RiverWatch to bring Wessex rivers to everyone staying home. These beautiful photos and videos have shown our rivers in their best light, to people who are unable to access them at this tricky time. 

Our very own “Trainee Education Officers” (staff’s children!) have come up with some fantastic ideas of how to engage young people in rivers at home. These have included a lot of river restoration planning, with many models tried and tested. The Kingfisher Snap Up board game prototype has been produced, tested and approved by our CEO! A macrophyte (aquatic plant) identification challenge was set, with varying success, depending on the age and ability of the child. Dressing up as fish and even some invertebrates made using modelling clay!