In support of its wider aims as a maritime corporation within the UK’s busy, varied and vital maritime sector, Trinity House is launching its new ‘Buoys, beacons and bananas’ education resources for Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 pupils to help young learners understand the importance of the sea to our island nation, and how ships and seafarers help the UK connect to the rest of the world.
The educational resources use slides, teachers’ notes, videos, worksheets and games to help educators teach their pupils about the role that shipping and Trinity House plays in their lives, by providing safety measures such as lighthouses and buoys, as well as cadet training, to help ensure the sea-borne movement of the food and goods that are now an essential aspect of our everyday lives.
The new resources are available for free download at www.trinityhouse.co.uk/bananas.
What will pupils learn?
The Key Stage 1 resources teach 5-7 year olds the importance of using ships to move everyday food and goods—such as the food we see in our local shop—around the world by sea.
The Key Stage 2 resources teach 7-11 year olds about the impact of globalisation on our lives and the roles played by shipping and Trinity House. Pupils will learn that as an island nation reliant on global trade links, the UK is supported by a large and diverse maritime sector that trains and employs over 957,000 people, including seafarers, engineers, designers, port operators and more. As part of this, Trinity House’s Merchant Navy Scholarship Scheme provides training for young people who want to be seafarers to ensure they can undertake their work safely and efficiently at sea.
Pupils will also learn about the role of aids to navigation such as lighthouses and buoys in keeping ships and seafarers safe at sea, and explore their own ideas about designing visual systems to convey messages to mariners about safe passages and hazards.
The Key Stage 3 resources will give 11-14 year old pupils a more advanced understanding of the role that the maritime sector (including Trinity House) plays in the UK’s prosperity, and the huge range of diverse, interesting and important jobs that keep food and goods moving in support of Britain’s economy.
Pupils will also learn how Trinity House keeps ships and seafarers safe by providing a mix of aids to navigation and training for seafarers, keeping the movement of commercial shipping safe, constant and vital at a time when globalisation has made the world a smaller and more connected place.
Trinity House’s Deputy Master Captain Ian McNaught welcomed the new resources:
“Trinity House is proud to be part of the UK’s busy and vital maritime sector, and I am very glad to announce that we are enhancing our educational offering with these resources. I believe this will be another important tool for the sector to help reduce sea-blindness and recognise all those who work in shipping to keep the world moving.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
Trinity House
Trinity House is a charity dedicated to safeguarding shipping and seafarers, providing education, support and welfare to the seafaring community with a statutory duty as a General Lighthouse Authority to deliver a reliable, efficient and cost-effective aids to navigation service for the benefit and safety of all mariners.
The Corporation of Trinity House was incorporated by Royal Charter in 1514 to regulate pilotage on the River Thames and provide for aged mariners.
With a mandate that has expanded considerably since then, it is today the UK’s largest-endowed maritime charity, the General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar and a fraternity of men and women selected from across the nation’s maritime sector.
Its long-standing familiarity with the channels, hazards, currents and markings of the coastline also qualify it to inspect and audit over 11,000 local aids to navigation, license Deep Sea Pilots and provide Elder Brethren as Nautical Assessors to the Admiralty Court.
Per annum the charity donates around £5m to the charities it supports; these include the provision of cadet training schemes, welfare provision for retired mariners and educational programmes teaching safety at sea skills.
Please visit www.trinityhouse.co.uk for more information.
For further information please contact:
Neil Jones, Public Relations and Records Manager, Trinity House
Tel: +44 (0)1255 245155 / Email: neil.jones@trinityhouse.co.uk