Thames Water to celebrate World Toilet Day with online schools event

Primary schools across London and the Thames Valley are invited to celebrate World Toilet Day at the water industry’s first national live virtual learning event.

Thames Water’s education team has joined forces with 11 other water companies to launch ‘We are UK Water – Celebrating World Toilet Day’ to learn about the fascinating industry on Thursday, November 19. 

World Toilet Day takes place every year to raise awareness of the importance of sanitation across the world and the online learning event is accompanied by a comprehensive resource pack for teachers, which includes engaging and cross curricular activities for Key Stage 2 pupils. 

From learning about the water cycle to the importance of using water wisely, the content has been designed to support various subject areas across the National Curriculum, including maths and science. 

Paul Hampton, Thames Water’s education manager, said: “We provide an essential service and World Toilet Day is a great opportunity to show how important this is for maintaining hygiene and health.

“Every drop of water we all use comes from the environment and it’s important we teach future generations about the water in their taps and in their toilets, so they understand how to use it wisely. This one-of-a-kind event is a fantastic way to bring the water industry together to benefit some of our youngest customers.”

Anne Reed, chair of the water company education forum and education manager at Yorkshire Water, said: “Life is pretty different for everybody at the moment and, like many other industries this year, because of Covid-19 we’ve had to think differently about how to deliver our important messages. Through our Education Forum water companies already collaborate on many initiatives but we haven’t attempted anything on a nationwide scale before. We hope this event paves the way for more innovation and further supports schools at what is a very challenging time for them.”

Schools can register for ‘We are UK Water – Celebrating World Toilet Day’, which takes place on Thursday November 19 from 11.15am to 11.45am and download the activity pack using this link: https://bit.ly/37j0ZWf

Thames Water provides water and waste services to 15 million people in the Thames Valley and London. Before the coronavirus lockdown, the company operated its comprehensive education programme from seven specialist centres based at its sites and through visits to schools by speakers.  

Over the last five years, 100,000 schoolchildren have been given a fascinating insight into how the company deals with clean water and waste for millions of customers. Thames Water is now providing online education and careers talks to schools and colleges and hopes to start visiting schools again in 2021.