Testimonials

Ocean Life Education is very grateful of the feedback we receive after our programs and events. We are a family-run business and your views are important to us. Here are a few testimonials we have had recently and over the years…

“The show was excellent! Richard connected really well with the audience and it was obvious that they were hanging on to every word he said….He showed high levels of kindness and appreciation for the animals and protecting natural ecosystems. If you are looking for a marine educator, I highly recommend Ocean Life Education. Their programs are second to none!” Jacinta Padgett, Fraser Coast Regional Council. 2023.

 

‘students were just so captivated, engaged and excited’    ‘presentation was so age appropriate and fun’   ‘brilliant’. Vanessa Mansfield, Immanuel Lutheran College (Prep). 2023.

 

prep students studying sea star

Prep Students at Clayfield College

“One of the best incursions I have ever seen – keen, interesting presenters who are truly passionate about their subject!” Jasmine Molineux, Patricks Road State School  (Year 2) 2018

 

‘students are riveted’    ‘age appropriate facts’    ‘program is outstanding’

Katrina Meade, Kings Christian College (Prep) 2018

 

‘fitted perfectly into the middle of our current C2C unit on living things’

Erin Maywald
Bulimba State School (Prep) 2018

 

‘celebrating Under 8’s Day’   ‘theme Language and Cultures (Australian sea life)’ ‘Display of animals and artefacts excellent’

Debbie Holmes
Unity College (Prep – 2) 2018

 

‘Have had them for a few years now’   ‘Great presentation’

Bernadette Day
St Michael’s College (Year 2) 2018

 

‘Very happy to recommend’   ‘supports the Marine Science curriculum’   ‘Very informative and entertaining’   ‘students engaged and able to make connections with the theory’

Lynette Leighton-Whyte
Burnside State School (Yr 11) 2018

 

‘Fantastic way to get students engaged in Marine Ecosystems’   ‘gain insight into human environmental impacts’   ‘loved looking and touching the marine animals’

Katherine Stephanos
St Thomas More College (Y7 – 12 Science Week Activity) 2018

 

‘real life examples of classification’

Lauren Downs
Redlands College (Yr 11) 2018

 

‘provided my students with real-life, hands-on experience observing the various classes of echinoderms’    ‘easy-going, humorous dialogue’   ‘added depth and breadth to understanding structural and behavioural adaptations’   ‘I highly recommend an Ocean Life Education visit’

Adam Richmond
Clontarf Beach State High School (Yr 11)

 

The regular Human Impacts program is great- this is perfect for our curriculum.
Having Richard visit with his ‘friends’ is one of the highlights of the year!

Theresa Drage
Islamic College Of Brisbane (Prep)

The interactive and inquiry based learning experiences provided by Ocean Life Education, was rated as the favourite lesson of the year from my year 11 Biology class. Not only were students excited about getting up close and personal with varying organisms, they later expressed their determination in protecting the surrounding marine environment. Richard is clearly passionate about his marine creatures which extended through the delivery educational program. We were most particularly impressed with the adaptability of the programs Richard ran, as his clientele is usually catered towards lower year levels. This program was the highlight of the year for all of our students and we are eagerly awaiting Richard’s next visit.

Chris Gauthier, Science Teacher
Cleveland District SHS (Year 11)

Thank you ocean life education

Starlight Children’s Foundation 2015

Thank you so much for coming Richard! I was expecting it would be great, but it exceeded even my expectations! You are such a captivating presenter, it was great to see the kids so engaged in learning!

Melanie Rolfe
Starlight Children’s Foundation 

On behalf of my Year 4 class, I would like to sincerely thank you for the wonderful presentation you gave us last Wednesday afternoon. Your professionalism, enthusiasm, vibrancy and love for what you do enabled the students to experience something different and special. The content and resources you bought along were most engaging and the students haven’t stopped talking about the special ocean creatures that became their friends.
A superb and very worthwhile visit.

Donna Jacks, Teacher
St Joachim’s School, Holland Park (Year 4)

We loved Ocean life! The Children thought it was so cool to be able to touch such strange looking creatures!
Nathan was just great! What a fantastic Educator! He was so enthusiastic and engaging and he really gave the children the opportunity to learn and explore.

Amy Bodel
Active Kids E.L.C. Mt Gravatt East

This is a very well organised program which has been thoughtfully designed to fully engage all participants, regardless of the number of children. The presenters are knowledgeable, professional and respectful while also making the program interesting and fun for the children. I highly recommend this hands-on learning opportunity for providers of early childhood programs.

Jodie Thompson, Director
Little e’s Kindergarten Emmanuel (June 2013)

I would like to thank Nathan so very much for the presentation he did at Oyster Point Joey Scouts (at Scarborough) on Monday night. Nathan was vibrant, energetic and really entertained the children. I have not seen them quite so interested and engaged in a presentation before! The resources were fantastic as was the live display.
Having had many wildlife presentations before, often presenters are very excited about the content but are unable to engage with the children and share their enthusiasm in a relatable way. Nathan did this with ease! He certainly knew how to captivate a young audience.
I have already recommended Ocean Life Education to other Scout leaders in our district and the word has spread from our Cub leaders who were also equally impressed!

Lainey Stevens
Joey Scouts Scarborough

children touching sea stars

Rising Stars Newmarket ELC

We are looking forward to this year’s show. The children really enjoyed it last year and spoke of it weeks following.

Gina Jones
Rising Stars Newmarket ELC

Our experience with Ocean Life Education was fantastic! The presenter showed an excellent ability to engage all age groups, while being informative and ensuring that all children were given equal opportunity to explore the ocean animals. The presentation related to real life experiences for the children and ensured that they were able to participate on all levels. We will definitely rebook again in the coming years!

Danni Morris
Shailer Park Early Childhood Centre (June 2013)

WE ALWAYS PERSONALLY RECOMMEND THIS SHOW TO OTHER TEACHERS/CENTRES

Robyn Hoban
Dayboro Community Kindergarten (March 2013)

teacher and principal hold turtle

Teacher and Principal of Buranda State School

Ocean Life is a hands-on experience that young children enjoy! They are fascinated by the animals and artefacts and always learn so much (even when they don’t think they are).  Thanks Richard, you outdid yourself again.

Sally Bateman
Ormiston College (Year 3)

Ocean Life education is a must for children living here on the Sunshine Coast! Our centres have been fortunate to have Richard organize these wonderful teaching sessions for our children for about 6 or seven years now- would not have our children miss this opportunity!

Helen Haarhuis
Bella Grace Aroona

Ocean Life Education has visited our child care centre many times over the years and they always bring something new for the children. They cater for children of all ages from 1year old up. We are looking forward to their visit next year and the children have not stopped talking about Franklin the turtle. keep up the great work Richard and the Ocean Life Team.

Kaz Piper
C&K Tewantin

richard speaks to group of children

Kingston East Neighbourhood Group with Richard

Ocean LIfe Education provided a wonderful opportunity for my prep students to view live ocean organisms. The children were engaged for the full hour and loved being able to use their knowledge from our unit of work as they investigated the different creatures. It was an excellent incursion, and one I have already recommended to other teacher friends!

Sarah Kickbusch
Westside Christian College (Prep)

A wonderful, hands-on experience for children without the hassle and cost of traveling to a theme park or museum.

Amanda Schubl
Fernvale State School

The preschool children in our early intervention centre for children with autism loved the presentation and were fascinated by the animals! The Ocean Life program covers a well balanced combination of hands on activities, interesting information and conservation issues that is presented at a suitable level for the audience.

Sally Yin
AEIOU Toowoomba

This is the second year I have had a Prep class participate in Ocean Life Education. I would highly recommend the program as it is informative, interactive and the my Prep children just love it. The presenter is great with children and the programming is perfect for Preps. They gain new information from a variety of interactive resources including puzzles, artifacts, live sea animals, books, felt board and DVD.

Julene Buchanan
Bald Hills State School (Prep)

Ocean Life Education was the activity which had the highest number of bookings in our Vacation Care program and for good reason, touching and interacting with sea creatures is fun and educational and very popular with the children.

Jared Olthof
PRSS OSHC

Ocean Life Education is a fabulous program aimed at a wide range of audience. The delivery of the lessons was professional and all the children had a wonderful time! The hands on resources and displays were excellent visual cues for discussion on dangerous marine animals. An amazing program for students and adults alike!

Ellie Pobjoy
RSPCA Qld

Fun, Interesting and Educational:) Oceanlife Education ticked all the boxes.
The children loved it!!

Lynda Manders
Mt Crosby S.S. P&C OSHC

We absolutely love the program, the children talked about the animals for the rest of the day and eagerly informed their parents on arrival. Love the way the program encourages looking after our environment, the plastic bag story with the turtles really fostered this. Looking forward to next years show!

Carol Brown
Mother Duck Bracken Ridge

katie helps girl touch turtle

Busy Bees Nashville Playgroup with Katie

Ocean Life’s visit is always a highlight. The children (and grown ups) learn new and interesting ‘stuff’ about the sea creatures – which are nearly all ‘touchable’. The presentation is appropriate for pre-school aged children and builds beautifully on the anti-littering/recycling elements of our program.

Sally Godfrey
Busy Bees

Hi, as a parent of a prep child at Ironside School, I’d like to say thanks very much for the session that you ran their yesterday. OK, so my son has only been at school for six months, but I heard more about that one day yesterday evening than any other day since he started, by a long way.

He told us how to treat box jellyfish and bluebottle stings and blue-ringed octopus bites; we heard about the baby shark and its egg, and how you had to keep fingers away in case it though they were the prawns that it eats, and much more besides. In fact, it was all we could do to stop him talking for long enough to eat his dinner.

He obviously had a fantastic time, so thanks very much for making it such an enjoyable day for him.

Mark Crowe
Parent

This was a very worthwhile experience for the children and teachers. There were lots of opportunities for hands on learning, questioning and investigation. The presenter spoke in a way which was meaningful and easily understood by the children and the strong environmental message within the show was a very important aspect for the children to learn. We would definately have the Ocean life program back at our centre.

Elvia Downs
C&K Acacia Ridge

Ocean Life provided students with a challenging and thought-provoking hands-on presentation that reinforced the course content they were studying.

Rachael Tregea
Hills International College

ocean life education at kids in action

Katie at Kids in Action Workshop Sunshine Coast

Our preppies loved the hands-on approach and couldn’t stop talking about it when they were finished. An exciting experience for them!

Kerri Schefe
Manly State School

The Ocean Life Education Program was a wonderful addition to the children’s interest in the sea and it’s creatures. Its presentation of living sea life enabled first hand learning experiences and questions to be pondered and answered. A valuable addition to our curriculum.

Robyn Lane
Sunnybank Community Preschool & Kindergarten