CHILDREN got an unusual first-hand view of the perils of pollution in a pool full of plastic.

The two year 1 classes at Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy in Saltash have been looking at journeys, and the journeys animals make, as part of their topic “From A to B”.

In particular, they have looked at ocean animals and the impact plastic pollution is having on their lives and the journeys they make across the ocean.

The children have been shocked to see the animals swimming into and through bits of plastic in the sea.

To raise the children’s awareness of the issue of plastic pollution further and to understand what it must be like for the animals, Saltash Leisure Centre offered to fill their shallow pool with clean plastic bottles and containers for the children to wade through to experience what the animals must feel like.

Year 1 teachers Charlotte Wood and Liz Watson said: ‘The children imagined they were seals, sea turtles and dolphins swimming through the swimming pool “ocean”.

‘The children were really shocked to have to push the plastic out of the way and not step on it on the pool floor.

‘The children recognised that while it’s easy for us to push plastic out of the way the animals could not and might eat or swallow it or get trapped in it.

‘They had great fun then searching for plastic and collecting it to clear the “ocean” to make it easier to swim again. It was a fantastic learning experience.’