The Engagement and Learning team have had a busy start to the new year, delivering a range of educational sessions across the region, as well as continuing to develop free to download resources.
Primary Science Resources
We are very excited to announce that a range of primary science resources, developed in collaboration Nicky Collins, Fellow of the Primary Science Teaching Trust, are now available to download from our website! These resources are curriculum linked and provide fun and engaging activities for children to explore themes of life cycles, adaptation and food chains. Check out the resources at Learning Resources – Westcountry Rivers Trust
Teledyne Valeport Sponsorship
We are delighted to share that we have been sponsored by Teledyne Valeport to support and further our education and engagement work in 2025 – 2026. Established in 1969, Teledyne Valeport supplies advanced underwater sensors and profilers to customers worldwide, supporting research, navigation, and environmental monitoring to customers across 74 countries.
At WRT, we believe engagement is key to long-term river protection, and this sponsorship places a strong emphasis on educating young people in the Westcountry. By helping the next generation understand how healthy rivers function and why they matter, we hope to inspire future careers in the environmental sector and protect these vital waterways for years to come.
The sponsorship has already supported the delivery of local careers events; in January, Helen, our Learning and Engagement Manager and George, our Operations Team Leader, were joined by Teledyne Valeport staff at a local school careers event, where they were able to talk with students about the variety of careers in the environmental sector and discuss career pathways.
School Sessions
Waterproofs have been at the ready for a range of outdoor practical water quality sessions, that the team have been delivering this winter! The students from two North Devon School Eco clubs approached their practical Citizen Science Investigations (CSI) water quality sessions with gusto, collecting excellent scientific data on their local Stream. The Eco clubs are now members of our CSI Programme, and we are looking forward to receiving monthly water quality data from the groups.
The WRT team also visited Wheal Martyn clay works near St Austell to give a talk and demonstrate practical water quality testing for local A level Environmental students and their lecturers. The talk focused on possible careers in the environmental sector, and we illustrated careers in both how to improve, and engage people, with our environment. Testing the stream provided an opportunity for students, lectures and our staff to discuss the difference between turbidity and total dissolved solids due to the inert nature of china clay particles.
Lifelong Learning
We believe that learning about our waterways is for everyone, and we have been delighted to be working in partnership with Climate Vision, based in Cornwall, to support the development of their accredited Climate Skills through Creativity Continuing Professional Development programme. As part of the Programme, WRT have hosted two sessions of our ‘Building Climate Resilience through Nature Based Solutions’ course. Participants were introduced to a range of Nature-Based Solutions and Natural Flood Management strategies before being asked to plan how to apply them in real world situations. The sessions finished with a local site visit, where we all got to see the NFM strategies functioning well in some very challenging conditions!
