Schools

Curriculum-aligned marine and freshwater programmes

We run hands-on programmes that connect students with their blue spaces. Activities like snorkelling and stream studies help tamariki and rangatahi to explore local ecosystems, grow their understanding, and strengthen their role as future kaitiaki.

How we can work together

We'll lead your classroom on a hands-on educational journey into our freshwater and marine spaces, designed to equip rangatahi with skills and knowledge to protect these environments for their future.
Our experiential programmes align with literacy and numeracy requirements for ECE (Early Childhood Education) right through to Year 13.
You can choose from a range of programmes for your students, from single-day experiences to camps, or up to 5-day programmes combining classroom and off-campus learning.
We keep your students safe on well-managed snorkelling and streamside excursions with comprehensive Health and Safety support, including documents designed to address your school's 'Education Outside the Classroom' policy. Our programmes are fully certified under the Adventure Activities Safety Audit (AAO 534).

New Zealand Curriculum areas we cover

Science (Living World): exploring ecology and evolution
Social Sciences: examining cultural values of our blue environments and how communities respond to environmental challenges
Health and Physical Education: engaging in active learning through activities such as snorkelling and kayaking

Resources

Please feel free to use our resources which can be found and downloaded from our Resources page.

Get involved

Freshwater Programmes

Our freshwater programmes are delivered through our Whitebait Connection programme. Register your school now! Limited fully funded spots available. The first step is to fill out our schools form.

Marine Programmes

The key ways our programme supports the curriculum is via Science (Living World - ecology and evolution), Social Science (cultural values of the marine environment, community response to challenges etc) and Health and PE (snorkelling). We are committed to delivering safe snorkelling excursions and have robust health and safety documentation to match. We provide ALL the snorkel equipment required. We are adventure activity safety audit certified (AAO 534).

Steps to get our marine programme into your school

1. Fill out our Expression of Interest form 📝

A programme coordinator in your region will contact you to either organise a meeting or request more information for funding purposes. They'll then let you know if we're able to deliver to your school.

2. Sign our schools agreement and agree dates 🤝

If we're able to deliver the programme to your school, we'll organise a meeting to set dates and to sign our schools agreement - once signed your dates are locked in! Your coordinator will then send youyour's school itinerary with the timeline for your programme.

3. Send parents and caregivers permission form 🧾

We have a school permission template you're more than welcome to use.

4. Check out our resources page!

You can filter by marine. Alternatively, here our key school programme documents -

EMR educator's manual
Before the programme begins, download and print the EMR Learning Journal or Mountains to Sea Learning Journal for your students. We suggest writing their names on the journals and keeping them together with the teacher until they're needed.

Your feedback

Your feedback is very important to us and helps us secure funding for future programmes around Aotearoa. If you have completed a school programme with Mountains to Sea - either Whitebait Connection or Experiencing Marine Reserves, please complete our evaluation forms.

👩‍🏫 Teacher evaluation form

🧒 Student evaluation form

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