Our World Ocean Day Celebrations: Tuesday 9th June 2026
World Ocean Day is annually celebrated on 8th June. However, at Arc, we chose to celebrate on 9th June 2026 to allow for a full day of activities and to enable pupils to attend a live lesson with Steve Backshall from Plymouth University in the afternoon.
Arc was decorated to reflect the theme of the day, with ocean imagery, table covers, and door fringes. Pupils and staff were encouraged to dress in blue or come as a sea creature, with a £1 donation optional – with collected donations going towards saving our Oceans.
A variety of engaging activities were planned throughout the day to celebrate our oceans, the animals that call these Oceans home, and to explore conservation efforts, including learning about endangered species and the reasons they are at risk.
Below is a selection of the activities delivered across our Ocean-themed Arc Day:
- Ocean colouring activities
- Guess the ocean animal using sound buttons, supported by fact files about each chosen endangered animal to encourage reading, discussion, and curiosity.
Prize: Sea-themed notepad and fish pen - Decorate a shell, focusing on mindfulness through ocean-themed mark-making.
- Sensory play in the FLP Jellyfish Bloom, where pupils explored jellyfish habitats, searched for hidden sea creatures in a sand tray, and investigated the texture of “fish eggs,” challenging themselves to see how many they could hold
Prize for most sea creatures found: Sea-themed notepad and fish pen. - Crab dance-off challenge in the music room, where pupils danced to Noisestorm – Crab Rave in the style of their favourite crab
Prize for best crab dancer: Soft crab plushie. - DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) Animal of the Day drawing challenge, where pupils learned about the endangered Vaquita porpoise in tutor groups and created drawings for a competition
Prizes: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place received a sea creature plush pencil case (shark, fish, or dolphin) and a fish pen. - Live lesson with Steve Backshall (2:00–2:40pm)
Unfortunately, there were technical issues in the afternoon when the live lesson was due to start. We received apologies from WWF Live Lessons, explaining that this was due to a technical failure during what proved to be a challenging live broadcast. As a result, we were unable to access or watch the live lesson.
However, this did not stop pupils from enjoying the afternoon and continuing to engage with the Ocean Day theme. Activities from earlier in the day were set up for pupils to enjoy while watching past videos of Steve Backshall exploring life in our oceans. Pupils continued to enjoy shell painting, ocean animal colouring, and playing with water beads – our imagined fish eggs.
