Treat your students to a careers event with a difference.

With over 100 staff members in a variety of roles, your students will discover opportunities in areas they might never have considered. From marine biology to engineering, marketing, hospitality, and more – we provide a comprehensive look at the diverse careers available in a unique and exciting workplace. 

Your students will experience this dynamic environment behind the scenes, meeting some of the amazing people who make up our fantastic team at the Ocean Conservation Trust .

Our Careers Week packages have been designed to hit Gatsby Benchmarks 4, 5, 6, and 7, providing real-world encounters and insights into a variety of career paths. Your dedicated Schools Officer will guide students through the different routes staff have taken into their roles, exploring relevant school subjects, qualifications, and experiences in Further Education (FE) and Higher Education (HE).

What We Offer

We have designed three different Careers Tours, that bring learning to life, offering behind-the-scenes insights and real-world experiences. Each tour comes with a recommended workshop to reinforce the learning and themes of the tour, but you are welcome to pick from any of our suite of workshop options.

1. The Biologist 

Ideal for: KS3+ | Can be adapted for KS2 on request.  
Budding marine biologists will love exploring the aquarium’s scientific side with this sneak peek behind the scenes. 

Tour (1.5hrs)
Animal Care and Conservation Tour: Discover what it takes to care for 5,000 animals, and what a day in the life of a Marine Biologist looks like. Your students will get the chance to see the variety of jobs involved in animal care, as well as learning about our groundbreaking conservation efforts with seagrass restoration. This tour even includes visits to a Back of House area for a behind the scenes look at how we keep our animals healthy, happy and safe. 

Workshop Recommendation (1.5hrs):  
Under the Knife:  Investigate marine anatomy through hands-on dissection of a fish or squid.

 2. The Engineer

Ideal for: KS4+ | Can be adapted for KS3 on request 
Engineers are the hidden heroes of our aquarium, ensuring everything runs smoothly and thereby supporting our ocean conservation work. 

Tour (1.5hrs) 
The Engineer Tour: With over 120 tanks and 3,500,000 litres of water to be filtered through them, there are certainly challenges of supporting the largest aquarium in the country! Discover the answers to questions like: ‘Where does the poo go?’ And ‘Why doesn’t the widest tank window in the UK break and drown our visitors?’. This tour will look at some of those challenges and invite your students to come up with engineering solutions of their own. 

Workshop Recommendation (1.5hrs):  
Shark Hoist Workshop: Problem-solve as a team to design and build engineering solutions to move a hammerhead shark around the Aquarium. 

3. The World is Your Oyster

Ideal for: KS2+  
With over 100 staff members, there are many different roles within the Ocean Conservation Trust, all as important as each other! This tour is a great introduction to the many career possibilities your students may be interested in. 

Tour (1.5hrs) 
The World is Your Oyster Tour: Get exclusive access to working areas of the National Marine Aquarium and meet the variety of people responsible for keeping it running. Explore the vast range of careers on site, from shark feeding to finance, hospitality to science communication and everything in between. As an attraction, an aquarium, and a conservation charity, we can help your students recognise the opportunities in organisations all around them.  

Workshop Recommendation (1.5hrs):  
Under the Knife:  Investigate marine anatomy through hands-on dissection of a fish or squid.

Please note that we will be taking a tour around a working organisation, and therefore we can’t guarantee the availability of specific staff members/roles to speak directly with students. The leading Schools Officer will be able to provide insight into specific roles if that member of staff is available to speak with students. 


Virtual Offerings

Can’t attend in person? We’ll be sharing a set of virtual resources that will both complement our in-person offerings and stand alone as engaging careers content.

  • Women in Science recordings: Inspiring stories from female leaders in science and conservation. (Please note this recording will be available after International Women and Girls in Science day on Feb 11th).
  • Exclusive Interviews: Hear from our team about their role, what it’s like working at the aquarium and how they got here.

BOOK NOW

To book, or for more information: Call us at 01752 275 233 or email learning@oceanconservationtrust.org


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