Primary School Programme

Reef Conservation has been working with 85 primary schools to set up environmental corners. These consist of a small corner in a classroom with a mural, dry aquarium and posters, and an endemic garden outside.  With the support of teacher coordinators and assistants, students who are members of the environmental club can become leaders in promoting environmentally friendly behaviour.

Field trips

Classroom sessions are complemented by field trips at nearby beaches, the Pereybere Beach Resource Center or Nauticaz Marine Discovery Center or glass bottom boat trips in marine protected areas such as the Blue Bay Marine Park or Balaclava Marine Park. Emphasis has been put on hands-on learning and experience as a key component of the primary school programme.

Integrating the concepts in the primary school curriculum

Reef Conservation has been working with the Ministry of Education and Human Resources to integrate marine sciences in the upper-primary school curriculum (Standards III, IV, V and VI), and has submitted an integrated proposal including lesson structures and textbook contents.

Tools and materials to learn about the marine environment

Reef Conservation has been developing a series of hands-on educational tools such as posters, flashcards, CD Roms, dry aquariums and 3D models of the reef.

Teacher training

Training teachers to support the integration of marine sciences in the primary school curriculum and on how to use the marine environmental education materials developed by Reef and partners has been a core part of Reef’ primary education programme. Teachers and headteachers become themselves key partners in ensuring the success of the programme.