Shape your future. Small waves create a big ocean!

Network of European Blue Schools

In the period from April to December 2021, the NMFRI Gdynia Aquarium in cooperation with the Environmental Department of the City of Gdynia implemented an education project called “European Blue School Network”. The NMFRI Gdynia Aquarium is an institution committed to providing reliable information about seas and oceans, supporting initiatives for water protection, arousing curiosity and sensitivity in the younger generation, and creating a space for participants of educational meetings to exchange thoughts, opinions, and experiences.

It has been a year since the Aquarium Education Center of Gdynia began building the network of European Blue Schools. In 2021, eleven educational institutions from Gdynia responded to the call of the European Commission’s “Find the Blue” initiative and obtained the certification of a European Blue School through project experience.

We invite you to watch a movie about the project!

On a journey where water was our element, we took 11 schools from Gdynia, which were:

1. Early Education Team No. 1 (Primary School No. 45)
2. General Secondary Schools No. 6 (Primary School No. 53 and Primary School No. 49 for the Hearing Impaired)
3. Primary School No. 8 named after the Defenders of Hel
4. Primary School No. 21
5. Primary School No. 34 with Integration Classes named after Leonid Teliga
6. Primary School No. 35 named after Captain Stanisław Kosko
7. Primary School No. 37
8. Primary School No. 40 named after Captain Navy Karol Olgierd Borchardt
9. Primary School No. 48 named after Professor Kazimierz Demel
10. Liber Private Primary School
11. Gdynia Community School

The Network of Blue Schools are educational institutions that include “marine awareness” education in their teaching programs. This is realised through school projects carried out by students under the supervision of teachers or by incorporating knowledge about the sea into various subjects such as biology, geography, art, music, and even foreign languages. Spreading Ocean Literacy is particularly important in the context of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030), whose theme is “the science we need for the ocean we want.”

The NETWORK OF EUROPEAN BLUE SCHOOLS is an initiative of the European Commission, supported by the Directorate-General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, developed by partners of the EU4Ocean Coalition.

Discover the Blue

European Blue Schools bring the ocean into the classrooms. On their journey to become part of the network, teachers and students acquire knowledge and begin to better understand and appreciate the impact that the vast body of saltwater has on life on the blue planet. Building awareness and a sense of responsibility encourages students to become more engaged citizens of Europe and the world. The program challenges schools to “Discover the Blue” and investigate their relationship with the ocean while creating networks across Europe.

Why is it worth becoming a European Blue School?

Schools that would like to take on the “Discover the Blue” challenge must identify a marine environment-related topic that is important to their students, and then create a school project related to it. The goal is to make seas and oceans a central part of the curriculum through project-based learning. Student self-reliance, cooperation with people involved in research and protection of aquatic ecosystems, and building communities with similar interests are key values of these initiatives. After successfully completing the “Discover the Blue” challenge, schools receive the European Blue School certificate.

All certified educational institutions become initiators of change for sustainable ocean development, share experiences with teachers and students from other schools in the network, and connect with a wider community engaged in combating marine illiteracy.

Project coordinator: Małgorzata Żywicka
e-mail: mzywicka@mir.gdynia.pl
tel: +48 587 326 622