PUPILS across Gwynedd and Anglesey are the first in the UK to take part in a new pilot scheme that teaches school subjects out on the water.
The Ysgol y Mor (School of the Sea) project provides schools with the opportunity to use the marine environment to teach traditional classroom subjects and watersport skills. The project was launched this week in partnership with primary and secondary schools across the region including Ysgol Sir Hugh Owen and Holyhead high school.
Pupils aged 8-14, set out across the Menai strait in powerboats to be taught traditional classroom lessons including history, biology and art.
The project is the initiative of North Wales Watersports company and is inspired by a similar scheme in Brittany that contributed greatly the economic development of the region.
“Ysgol y Môr has already sparked tremendous enthusiasm from the teachers and children of North Wales. Teachers get a great way to enhance the delivery of their subjects; pupils have their subjects brought to life through real experiences, while in the long term the full potential of the region’s marine industry stands to be recognised. It’s a win win situation”. said watersports co-ordinator Stuart Gibson
18 school teachers are to be also trained as ‘champions of the sea’ equipping them with watersports skills. An inter-school competition will also be held at the end of the year, challenging students to design and build a marine craft powered by solar, wind or carbon energy.
The scheme hopes to enhance learning by bringing the pupils closer to their national environment. Welsh assembly government’s deputy minister for skills, John Griffiths said: “The sea has so much to offer children in Wales. It would be a crime not to make it a part of their education”
“Our seas and coastline are some of our greatest assets and I believe this type of outdoor learning could make a significant contribution to education in Wales.”