Education and Training

Teaching people about the issues faced by rivers is key to ensuring that people of all ages understand their importance and encouraging people to take action to ensure that waterways prosper, which includes behavior change.

Hidden gems

Re-connecting people with rivers, helping them to find, understand and love their local stretch of river, is the first step in getting people of all ages to want to take an active role in looking after their local waterway. Many urban communities are not in touch with the waterways around them – in London’s case the 600km (372 miles) of rivers.

Education for all ages

Engaging with people of all ages is vital for sustainable environmental improvement. It provides an opportunity to change attitudes and encourage lifelong positive behaviour.

Many of our  projects have an educational element, whether it be teaching a group of volunteers through a clean up, running awareness campaigns or going into schools as part of a project. All hands-on experiences help people to understand the issues with practical experiences.

Thames21 aims to develop lasting connections between Londoners and their local environment through our practical and educational activities. Getting people involved in our work enables them to learn from relevant and immediate examples of environmental problems and solutions.

A large part of our educational output revolves around our Foundation, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 curriculum-linked sessions at the Welsh Harp Environmental Education Centre, in Brent. For those who love being absorbed in nature, we offer year round experiences for people to get up close with wildlife, not just through school-term sessions but also holiday activities. Visit our Welsh Harp page for more information.

We work across London. Many of our projects have opportunities for schools and community groups to get involved. To find out if we’ve something to offer your group, get in touch with Chris on the details below.

Thousands of people learn about rivers

During the 2016-17 financial year, 19,361 people took part in our education and training programmes, with 71 schools or home education groups booking sessions at our Welsh Harp Centre, benefiting 5,736 primary school aged pupils. In addition, 491 pupils were educated by our Junior River Champions project, run by Thames River Watch for schools across the city.

Check out our practical volunteering opportunities on our events calendar page for hands-on learning experiences on our waterways.

For more information about education opportunities, please email Chris Coode.