Wild Beach Training at Rye Harbour

By Aimi Rifat

Wilder Learning and Communities Officer, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve

As first weeks go, I'm not sure it could have been any better! Myself and Alice, our Volunteer Coordinator, spent four days by the sea at Rye Harbour, learning all there is to know about Wild Beach. For those that haven't heard of it before, it takes the ethos of Forest School but takes place on the beach, where children are encouraged to connect with their marine environment through lots of outdoor play and child-led learning.

The course focused on four key areas; keeping safe, practical skills, understanding the beach environment and ocean connection. We learnt how to deliver engaging sessions to enable young people to have the confidence to discover new species of plants and sea life, develop practical skills like shelter making and fire lighting and maximise creativity using natural materials found on the beach. All these practical skills help participants to form a deeper connection with the coastal environment.

One of our final challenges, was to create a 'Wild Beach Child' from materials we found on the beach. It represents the knowledge and skills that children gain through Wild Beach and the connection it nurtures to their coastal surroundings.

So what's next? Well, now I've acquired these new skills and knowledge, I'm looking forward to putting them into practise and inspiring children about their amazing natural environment and the marine life that can be found at the nature reserve.

I'd also like to say a really big thank you to Natasha Sharma, Mike Murphy and Renzo Spano from the Wilder Learning team, who led such an inspiring course. 

If you would like to know more about learning at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, drop us an email at [email protected]