Chichester schoolchildren conduct a peaceful protest against sewage

Many of the children and households within the Birdham School community enjoy activities at the beach and in Chichester Harbour, and feel strongly that something needs to be done to get their message heard, whilst not causing any disruption in Chichester City Centre, Jess Brown-Fuller MP is a strong advocate for change in order to clear up our beautiful beaches and rivers. Jess joined the students to support their campaign and continues to show how important she feels this issue is for the community of Chichester. Jess met with the students during the Peaceful Protest, and discussed their concerns. Jess said that "The students of Birdham Church of England Primary School are passionate, enthusiastic advocates of our natural environment. It was a pleasure to meet with them to discuss their concerns regarding our local water quality and reassure them I remain committed to getting our rivers and seas clean, so they can continue to enjoy the water with confidence."

"We wanted to be Ocean Activists because we’ve been learning about how dirty the sea is from sewage pollution and want to make other people understand how sewage affects our oceans, and share how we can work together to help make it better.” said Martha Lodge, year 6 student and ECO Council Member.

The mission to help support Surfers Against Sewage is helping to raise awareness about the problem of poor water quality across the South Coast, but this is only part of the story.

Creating spaces for students to feel confident to share their views and opinions, and know that their voice will be heard is important to Mark McCadden, Head Teacher at Birdham School. “As a school that’s received multiple awards and distinctions regarding our long-standing ECO school curriculum, we are always looking for ways to help our children and love our world. Our children really are the future and so it is so important that we help them to know how to make a difference. So learning to protest peacefully and powerfully is a part of our mission to create courageous advocates for change in society, one step at a time!

The peaceful protest was well received by the people of Chichester, with many sharing how impressed they were with the dedication and conviction of the students. Parents also attended the protest to support the students. Jess Evans, year 6 parent said “I think it’s so important to give young children the tools to use their voice peacefully to advocate for important issues like this, especially something that directly impacts them living near the sea. It’ll hopefully give them confidence to feel that everyone’s voice matters and can make a difference!”

Hopefully, with the continuing support of Jess Brown-Fuller and ongoing activism from students and the wider community, peaceful protests will help make changes to policies that continue to allow sewage pollution, whilst creating confident advocates for the environment.

To find out more about getting involved in making our water cleaner, visit https://www.sas.org.uk/.