July 2024

Ocean Connection Programme officially launches
We launched our activity programme, kickstarting with a One Ocean Forum guided coastal walk to visit Wales’ only Little Tern Colony, a designated species for Liverpool Bay SPA. Forum members were guided by Forum member Claudia, to learn about the Little Terns and the site.

Trialling this new, innovative activity made the programme more inclusive and provide underserved groups with the opportunity to get involved and connect with marine environments.

Overall, we engaged with 225 people from local communities through 17 different activities in July – a great result!

Supporting the first school in North Wales to achieve its Ocean-Friendly Schools Award
The HYYM Project team attended Ysgol Maes Owen primary school to present them with their Ocean-Friendly Schools Award – the first in North Wales to have achieved the award. As well as the school’s award, each student involved in securing the award, mainly their eco warriors, received a certificate to recognise their hard work.

It was brilliant to be involved in helping Ysgol Maes Owen achieve this accreditation, and we hope to see more schools in the area following their lead.

Growing confidence in networking among the One Ocean Forum
After sharing our new ocean literacy posters and leaflet with One Ocean Forum members – many of whom took packs away with them to distribute in their communities – we delivered a networking practice session in which we supported members to grow their confidence in networking skills. During the session, members took part in a ‘speed dating’ style exercise to map out their One Ocean Forum network. Forum members left with their own network maps, to use in the future.

Learning from feedback to improve our offering
When delivering our first event with Conwy Young Carers, it became clear that the pre-activity survey elements were too arduous for attendees. As this was one of the first activities which used the surveys, it gave us a great chance to collect feedback and see what could be improved to make the activity more enjoyable.

Many of the young carers were tired, having come straight from school and caring responsibilities, so simpler surveys would have suited them better. Based off this, we’ve since shortened the survey elements to reduce the time required to complete them. Although having in-person support available is still necessary to collate data from underserved groups such as young carers, the improvements to the surveys should improve the experience and quality of data we collect from our sessions.