Estuary Education
During the months of May to July, the Exe Estuary Partnership Coordinator and Assistant delivers educational sessions on the estuary for children from local primary schools. The children are introduced to the challenges of estuary life and meet some of the creatures that have different ways of coping with these challenges.
At first glance, the estuary at low tide might seem quiet and colourless just a few white birds in the distance and a wide stretch of silvery mud. But take a closer look, and the magic of the estuary begins to reveal itself.
School children start their visit by exploring the sand, where they discover scuttling shore crabs (always a favourite!), graceful periwinkles, tiny goby fish darting through puddles, and heaps of shells, each one telling a story of survival against predators, drying winds, and shifting tides.
Digging a little deeper, they meet the burrowers, including the lugworm—the master engineer behind those neat coils of sand. With its red feathery gills, bristled sides, and detachable tail, it’s a fascinating creature that never fails to impress.
The adventure ends with a splash in the creek, the estuary’s nursery, where many marine species begin their lives. This is often the highlight of the day, offering close-up encounters with hundreds of shrimps, young flatfish, sandeels, and larger crabs—each with its own incredible story, including why they shed their shells!
By the end of each visit, the children often seem to have been partially assimilated into the estuary – they’re muddier, wetter and even exude a distinct estuarine aroma! And they glow with the pent-up excitement that comes with discovering a secret world.
The Partnership currently offers sessions for groups of up to 35 primary school children during the summer term at Exmouth Local Nature Reserve (LNR) for a small fee. Alternatively, we can accommodate virtual sessions via Zoom. To find out more, contact the Exe Estuary Officer: Email exeestua@devon.gov.uk.
Click here to view our Exe Estuary identification guide
LiCCo Project – Living With A Changing Coast 
The Exe Estuary Management Partnership have collaborated with LiCCo on a range of learning resources available for teachers from key stage 2 up to A-Level.
LiCCo are a cross-channel project helping coastal communities to better understand and prepare for the impacts of climate change, including coastal erosion and sea level rise (more information on the role of LiCCo is available on their website). An important part of this is education for children on the past, present and future of climate change and its affect on the community. To do this the LiCCo project set out three main education goals:
- To provide site-based educational activities at the Exe Estuary to teach local children and young people about the ecology, use, management and natural processes affecting their local coast
- To develop web based information which is specific to the local coastline and freely available
- To develop an educational package for schools and other audiences with an interest in coastline management, enabling them to explore and better understand coastal ecology, climate change, management issues, risks and coasts and the options to adapt to future coastal change.
The resources cover a range of topics, from questioning sustainable management of the estuary, through flood risk and associated habitat change to understanding the importance of estuaries for both humans and the environment. Each pack aids understanding of the estuary and our changing coasts through a selection of enquiry questions, that allow the children to use the information available to make an informed decision and answer to the question. The A-Level packs help promote the scientific method to students by using hypotheses and null hypotheses to explore ideas relating to the experimental process and scientific writing.
This educational resource has proved successful, with the key stage 2 resource winning the Geographical Association Publisher’s Award in April held in Manchester. 
The awards aim to promote material that will significantly improve the teaching of geography in schools, with different categories for different age groups. Judges at this year’s awards thought that the well-structured resource was challenging in content and approach. They were most impressed by the enquiry approach, through which pupils are asked to consider real situations and ask important geographical questions.
All the resources are available through the links below:
In addition, the DVDs containing the accompanying learning and teaching resources, free hard copies of all Exe Estuary booklets, and a DVD on Changing Coasts are available by emailing the Exe Estuary Officer (subject to availability).
“The Drip – a watery tale”
A beautifully animated new film by Tim Britton of Forkbeard Fantasy.
Introduced by a drip of water, this wonderful and engaging animation interprets the natural water cycle and other important areas of aquatic science and geography. It also takes a quirky look at the ‘dark side’, taking us on a thought provoking journey through the murky depths and issues of our own waste, only to re-surface with brighter optimism for a healthier future, full of home-grown heroes.
The rich poetic narration and colourful animated artistry of Forkbeard Fantasy adeptly leads us through many of the key concepts that geographers, scientists and practitioners can often struggle to interpret! From ‘water catchments’ to ‘nutrient enrichment’ – all are covered in just 5 magical minutes. Equally enjoyable as a school topic opener to encourage an early discussion or brainstorming, as a ‘closer’ to review the topic or simply found cruising the ‘YouTube flow’ for fun, it won’t disappoint.
The film was commissioned by the South Devon AONB on behalf of the South Devon Catchments Partnership (co-hosted by the Westcountry Rivers Trust) using Catchment Based Approach funding from the Environment Agency.
Stuart Line Cruises
Stuart Line Cruises are a multi-award-winning, family-run business, based in Exmouth at the mouth of the River Exe. Running throughout the year, they offer educational cruises and field days to groups of school children, college and university students. Groups can privately hire the boats if they wish, enabling teachers or lecturers to lead group discussions, activities or talks or their Skippers will be more than happy to deliver a live, informative commentary to passengers as they make their way around different areas of the estuary.
Marine Education in Devon
You can explore the hidden underwater world along the coasts of Devon. To find marine educators in your area, take a look at the Marine Education leaflet.