P&O Cruises and Cunard partner with Sea Sense to support coastal safety and ocean education in Southampton schools
Sister brands P&O Cruises and Cunard have announced a new partnership with Sea Sense, Tide School’s coastal safety and ocean education programme designed to help children better understand the sea and care for the marine environment.
Announced on World Oceans Day (8 June), the partnership will see P&O Cruises and Cunard sponsor eight schools across Southampton over a two-year period, supporting schools in both the Southampton Test and Southampton Itchen constituencies.
Sea Sense teaches children how to understand the sea through five key elements: tides, streams, winds, waves and rip currents. The programme focuses on practical, preventative education, helping young people build confidence and awareness before they encounter risks around the coast.
As part of the programme, pupils will also take part in monthly Sea Guardian activities focused on ocean conservation, responsible coastal behaviour and positive environmental action, including beach cleans.
P&O Cruises and Cunard colleagues will work alongside Sea Sense and local schools to support a number of community beach clean initiatives, building on the brands’ existing employee volunteering activity, which contributes litter data to the annual Marine Conservation Society beach litter report.
Carnival UK & P&O Cruises president Paul Ludlow said: “We are incredibly proud of our connection with Southampton and supporting coastal communities is hugely important to us – this partnership with Sea Sense is a meaningful way to help young people build both confidence and respect for the ocean. Through practical education and hands-on activities, Sea Sense is giving children vital knowledge that can help keep them safe while also inspiring the next generation of sea-faring advocates. We are proud to support the programme in Southampton and look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have across local schools and communities.”
Head of Tide School, William Thomson, added: “This partnership means a huge amount for Sea Sense. With P&O Cruises and Cunard’s support, we can help children understand the sea, stay safer around the coast and develop a stronger sense of responsibility for protecting our ocean environment. It is exactly the kind of early education that can create safer, more caring coastal communities.”
Darren Paffey MP for Itchen said: “I welcome this valuable partnership between P&O Cruises and Cunard and Sea Sense, which will promote coastal safety and environmental education with primary school children in my constituency. Through the programme’s focus on practical education, it is helping local children to build confidence, awareness and a stronger understanding of how to care for their local coastline, while also demonstrating the wider benefits that cruise brings to our community.”
Satvir Kaur MP for Southampton Test added: “I’m pleased to hear of Carnival UK’s new partnership with Sea Sense through its Southampton based cruise lines P&O Cruises and Cunard, and the impact it will have raising coastal awareness though practical education and hands-on Sea Guardian activities. The presence of Carnival UK and the cruise sector plays a valuable role in the local community and I look forward to seeing the positive impact this partnership will have with schools in the local community.”
(P&O Cruises and Cunard partner with Sea Sense to support coastal safety and ocean education in Southampton schools)
