Author Archives: oceanlifeeducation

Richard talks Shark feeding habits with Ten’s Totally Wild

Summer is rapidly approaching and more people will be heading to our magnificent coastal regions to enjoy a dip in the ocean. But while you’re diving the waves this summer, will you have a small worry in the back of your mind? Cue cliche shark music…da dum…da dum…

At Ocean Life Education, we love to educate the public about safety in the water, especially concerning sharks.

There’s been much discussion around sharks recently following several incidents with surfers at popular Eastern beaches. We thought this was a great time to team up with Channel 10’s Totally Wild to clear up some common misconceptions.

This week, we headed to the beach with Totally Wild to film a segment on why people encounter sharks, why sharks make mistakes and how best to avoid contact with sharks. Our view is that the better educated the public is about sharks the better choices they’ll make, and therefore the safer they will be.

Sharks are important to the marine ecosystem, we need to learn to live with them and look after them, to maintain a healthy ocean.

Richard’s Safe Swimming Tips this Summer

  • Don’t swim too early in the morning, too late in the afternoon or at night.
  • Don’t swim in dark or murky water, especially near rivers or estuaries.
  • Don’t swim at beaches near rivers after heavy rainfall.
  • Don’t swim in areas where sharks are known to visit.
  • Swim between the flags, where lifesavers are watching out. There is a reason for where they put the flags and when they open and close the beach.
  • Understand sharks, be educated and mark responsible choices when and where to go into the water.

The Sunshine Coast Daily were aware of us filming the segment and thought the timing was right to put an article in last Tuesday’s paper to help spread the message.

Ocean Life Education Newspaper clipping

Sunshine Coast Daily pg7 Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Read the full article on the Sunshine Coast Daily website.

The filming with Totally Wild went well and we will let you know when it’s going to air. Keep an eye out on our Facebook page.

My only reservation – the SC Daily could have used more touch up flare on the picture of yours truly in the paper!

Richard C.

Winner of the Sunshine Coast Business Awards 2015

Ocean Life Education winner of the 2015 Sunshine Coast Business Award

Photo: facebook.com/SCEIBAwards

Wow what a ride the last few weeks have been! We are very happy to have won the Sunshine Coast Business Award for Education & Training. A real testament to the wonderful staff that help make us a fantastic and effective educational resource.

A huge thank you goes out to all you amazing teachers at schools, child care centres and vacation care that invite us in and let us help breed new generations of environmentally savvy custodians.

Our business is not successful without you and your ongoing support. We look forward to maintaining our relationship and continuing to make environmental learning fun, engaging and interactive.

Tracey and Richard attended the Gala event at the Novotel Twin Waters along with Alison (marketing) and Nathan (presenter) with wife, Lauren.

IMG_9994

Needless to say we were all so happy for the recognition of Ocean Life Education, a business with purpose that we are all so passionate about.

Tracey and Richard Coward at the Sunshine Coast Business Awards 2015

Photo: facebook.com/SCEIBAwards

Tracey and Richard Coward, just moments after receiving the award.

OLE accepting award

Here’s Tracey and Richard receiving the award. Richard kept the acceptance speech short and sweet but said “receiving this award is a win for the environment”.

You can check out more photos from the Sunshine Coast Business Awards event on our Facebook page.

Sunshine Coast Business Awards Finalist 2015

ocean life education a sunshine coast business award finalist 2015

Ocean Life Education is proud to announce it is a Sunshine Coast Business Awards 2015 Finalist!

This is the first time we have entered the awards and are so proud to have been accepted as a Finalist in the prestigious Awards for the Education and Training category. It is wonderful to be recognised for our achievements among the Sunshine Coast business community.

The 2015 Awards program includes business sector awards, tourism sector awards, major awards for key aspects of business performance, an overall business of the year, individual awards and the prestigious Hall of Fame.

“The Awards are designed to recognise and celebrate the efforts and achievements of the diverse and dedicated Sunshine Coast business community” -SC Business Awards

Ocean Life Education is one of five finalists in the Education and Training category, among fellow finalists Demi International Beauty Academy, Gumnuts Childcare, Maleny Credit Union, and Safetywave.

Marine Education Officer and Presenter, Nathan Wynder has also been selected as a Sunshine Coast Business Awards’ Employee of the Year Finalist. Nathan has been with Ocean Life Education for four years and has been a tremendous asset to the team – with his passion for children’s education and a constant willingness to learn and pass his knowledge and love for the environment on to the next generation.

Nathan presenting Ocean Life Discovery program

Nathan presenting the Ocean Life Discovery program.

The submission process has been rigorous starting with an Expression of Interest followed by a phone interview before being accepted to submit a full entry submission. The submission was comprehensive as we had to outline our business strengths, achievements and challenges across five key criteria areas – your business, sales and marketing, customers, team culture, business planning and performance.

The submission was then followed by an in-person panel interview and Richard couldn’t help but take the opportunity to wow the panel with our live marine animals and a bit of humour. Wife and business partner, Tracey was by his side to ensure Richard didn’t get too carried away and kept him focused on the business side of things!

The experience has been valuable, providing the opportunity to reflect on our achievements over the past nine years when it all first began.

Tracey and Richard founded Ocean Life Education as a husband and wife team on the Sunshine Coast in 2006. With passion and purpose they saw a gap in the market and a real need for education for sustainability to be incorporated into children’s education from a young age.

Ocean Life Education will attend the Sunshine Coast Business Awards Gala Event on Saturday 7 November and looks forward to celebrating our achievements with the team and other finalists.

 

 

Science Week 2015 Wrap Up

year 4 student clayfield college

Clayfield College Year 4 student

By Richard Coward

Wow what a Science Week we’ve just had, a fantastic initiative to get kids engaged in all things science.

No better way to love science than to learn all about our amazing marine creatures, why they are important and why we should look after them.

Participating Schools

Some huge thanks go out to Clayfield College, St Joseph’s School Nundah, Parklands Christian College and Brisbane Adventist College for hosting us during Science Week.

Every one of the kids were an absolute pleasure to share knowledge with, they enjoyed the close contact with our animals absorbing all aspects of their existence.

Program learning focus

With volumes of information available about creatures from the sea, the main focus of learning were in there areas of:

  • Adaptation
  • Classification
  • Habitats; and
  • Human impact

Each school program is extremely engaging and fun to cover, the latter an increasingly important topic within schools as we strive to understand and protect our surrounding environment under the pressure of an ever increasing population.

Memorable moments shared

Visiting these schools provided many memorable moments, too many to share in a short blog post. Here is a small sample from our schools visited this week.

  • Total participation and enthrallment at explaining why sharks attack humans  (Yr 4 Clayfield College)
  • The fun and challenge of delivering 5 different presentations to every year level throughout the whole school day (P-6 St Josephs)
  • The thrill and enjoyment on the faces of the Prep children as they interacted with our live animals (Parklands Christian College)
  • Total engagement of children with good background knowledge and amazing intelligent questions at the presentation’s conclusion. (Yr 1 Brisbane Adventist College)

Invaluable Experience

Science Week provides children the chance to see that science is a fun and cool subject to learn.

It is important to keep encouraging children to pursue science throughout their academic lives and continue to produce creative successful scientists of the future.

Children are often scared off by science and all its jargon, but at Ocean Life Education we break down that barrier, make understanding animals and their natural environment simple and easy to remember. This empowers children and encourages them to dig deeper in search for answers.

Once again we would like to thank the schools who included our incursion into their celebration of Science Week, we look forward to seeing them again in future and encourage all schools to jump on board and enlighten their children towards a brighter scientific future.

We strive to provide an invaluable experience propelling the school kids of today into the scientists of tomorrow.

For great conversation, videos and more, visit the National Science Week website.

To book your next Science Week incursion with Ocean Life Education, contact us.