Gift Basket

Athena Dhir, a Reception pupil at Gayhurst School, recently went on holiday to the Maldives.  As part of the hotel’s activity program Athena took part in an eco-friendly coral basket making workshop.  The baskets that are made by the hotel guests are sponsored and Athena chose to dedicate her basket to her School.   The basket was then placed in the sea to replant new coral.  Athena’s classmates are delighted that they can go online and actually watch the progress of the coral growing.  Mrs Whitaker, Athena’s Reception Teacher said, “This is a wonderful project for the children to get involved with as part of their studies on nature.  They can actually see life under the sea through the ‘window’ this website provides’.

Since 2014 the coral that lives in the seas surrounding the Maldives has begun to ‘starve’.  This happens when the rising sea temperatures cause the coral to expel the algae living in its tissues and the coral turns white.  The term for this is ‘bleaching’.  The Maldives is home to some of the most diverse coral reefs in the world.  The coral is not dead but between 60 and 90 percent of the coral there has been struck by severe coral bleaching.

The Gayhurst Reception children are delighted to be taking part in such a unique eco-project.  The Gayhurst coral can be found at http://marinesavers.com/coral-frame-collection/ by entering code KH2110.