The initiative, planned for the summer term of 2013, has been designed to encourage early years (aged 3-5) children to discover more about seafood in a fun and interactive way. Seafish hopes to encourage local businesses, involved in the seafood industry, to donate time and resources to the project to help extend the learning experience beyond the classroom. It is hoped local seafood industry partners will enhance the experience by providing external visits, expert advice and practical, hands-on, hosted activities.
Seafish is currently developing a resource pack, in conjunction with the National Schools Partnership, that will provide schools and local groups who participate in the trials with the resources, information and activities that they will need to deliver a fun and engaging experience for children.
The programme aim is to reinforce that 'fish is easy', 'fish is fun' and 'fish is healthy' and at the same time provide support for families. This has already proved successful through Seafish's own online consumer campaign, Fish is the Dish.
Paul Williams, Chief Executive at Seafish explains: "We are delighted that our sectoral panels have endorsed working with education and children, we believe a pilot such as this, in one of the traditional heartlands of the seafood industry, will give us a good basis to evaluate what works best in the education field.
"Our Fish is the Dish campaign has proved popular among mums on-line and now we are looking to extend the important messages and practical advice that it contains into the classroom for children, through an enjoyable and informative programme. We want local business to partner with us in delivering this programme and we ask them today to register their interest in our plans."
Joanna Dunlop, Promotions and Marketing Manager at Seafish explains: "We know that a key part of encouraging children to eat more seafood is ensuring that they are comfortable and familiar with it from an early age. Research shows us that it really is a case of the earlier the better in terms of building positive eating habits for future. This programme has been designed to capture their imagination whilst learning more about the health benefits and the rich variety of seafood available on their doorstep."
Seafish Seeks Industry Support for New Education Initiative in North Lincolnshire
UK - Seafish is seeking the support of local businesses in North Lincolshire as it plans the launch of a new, education programme aimed at teaching local children the importance of eating more seafood as part of a healthy and balanced diet.
