Can you imagine a world without oceans to swim in and explore?

Do you ever ask yourself where all the plastic bottles and bags go after you use them?

Did you know that almost half the world’s population rely on fish for food?

How do you feel knowing that every year an estimated 5 to 12 million metric tonnes of plastic enters the ocean?

These are some of the questions and ideas Year 7 and 8 students will be investigating in Enrich this term, as we dive into learning about the student-chosen topic of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14: Life Below Water. This SDG aims to conserve and sustainably use the world’s ocean, seas and marine resources.

At the end of last term, students in Year 7 and 8 Enrich classes were involved in voting for the topic they wanted to study in Term 3. It was clear to see that we have many students passionate about protecting our marine environments with the vast majority of both cohorts voting for Life Below Water as their topic of interest.

Our aim for this unit is for students to saturate the school community (and social media) with their ideas to build awareness of and make a difference in preserving our marine environments. They will learn and investigate thought-provoking facts and statements and be able to create a range of objects to showcase their learning such as:

• infographics
• comic strips 
• short films
• Developing different marine environments in Minecraft Education
• Designing a way of tackling a marine issue (e.g. plastic pollution) and pitching it to a ‘panel of experts’

The passion and interest for this topic that students have demonstrated so far is inspiring and we look forward to seeing their creations as the unit continues.

In addition to this, classes are assigned challenges in Enrich to ignite their creative and collaborative thinking skills. Congratulations to students who won the word challenge in Week 1, with winners from other challenges to be revealed this week.

Ms Vickers

Head of Department – Teaching and Learning