City to Sea – our educational partner
Since 2019, we’ve been working with environmental not-for-profit City to Sea to develop award-winning educational campaigns. Schools can register for free programmes created by teachers, for teachers, which include a host of learning resources, from assemblies and lessons plans to sample boxes – and more.
Since City to Sea's acclaimed Rethink Periods campaign was launched in 2019, hundreds of primary and secondary schools nationwide have received free up-to-date information about the period products available today and the social and environmental contexts of menstruation.
Off the back off this award-winning campaign, we’ve partnered once again to create Rethink Water – a bespoke education programme that aims to empower children to become responsible consumers of water. This supports our Target 100 ambition to help customers reduce their water use to an average of 100 litres per person, per day by 2040.
Find out more and sign up your school
Rethink Periods
An estimated 1.5 to 2 billion period products are flushed in the UK each year*. People who have periods are often unaware of the amount of plastic in the period products they use, such as tampons or pads.
When these products are flushed, they can cause nasty blockages in sewers because they don’t break down. That’s why we ask everyone to only flush the 3 Ps – pee, poo and paper. Everything else should be disposed of in the bin.
Up-to-date education and samples
Rethink Periods is a free education programme for teachers and school nurses that reached over 100,000 students in its first year. It aims to provide up-to-date information about periods and their social and environmental aspects to primary and secondary schools at Key Stage 2 and 3 level.
All participating schools receive a free product demonstration box, containing period products to talk about in the classroom. As unwanted plastic waste can be a threat to the environment, these include eco-friendly alternatives, such as reusable or organic options.
The programme is now delivered all over the UK to promote the use of plastic-free products and it was a gold winner at the 2020 Global Good Awards. A Primary School teacher from London called the programme ‘five star training’.
Request your training today
If you know a school that would be interested in signing up for this free training, email [email protected].
Find out more at rethinkperiods.org.uk.
*Marine Conservation Society, 2018
Rethink Water
Water is a precious, finite resource that is needed for life on Earth. In the UK, we are very fortunate to have some of the highest quality tap water in the world and yet many still buy water packaged in plastic bottles.
It’s time we Rethink Water. How we use it, how we consume it and how we teach our kids about it. Our population is growing fast, and climate change is bringing greater risk of both drought and flooding. We all need to change how we understand and value water.
That’s why we’ve teamed up with City to Sea to launch Rethink Water – a free education programme that aims to empower children to become responsible consumers of water and guardians of the environment.
Driving change at school and beyond
Designed by teachers, for teachers, the programme uncovers some of the facts and myths about bottled and tap water, educates children about why they should refill and reuse containers and enables them to discover top water-saving tips.
The resources have been developed for Key Stage 2 students and include:
- Assembly packs that can be delivered by guest speakers
- ‘Big water day’ activities
- Lesson plans for English, Maths, Geography and Art
- Homework to encourage kids to be ambassadors for change in their homes and communities
Signing up to the Rethink Water programme will help schools achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals targets and to achieve the UK Government target of schools going single-use plastic-free by 2022. It will also help schools be recognised in the International Eco Schools Green Flag award.
Register your interest today
Rethink Water is being piloted at 10 schools across Southampton before being rolled-out to over 300 schools across the South of England in the next 18 months.
If you know a school that would be interested in signing up for this free training, they can register their interest by emailing [email protected] to sea.org.uk.
Find out more at refill.org.uk/rethink-water.
