WEAR Rivers Trust has secured 25,000 of funding to continue its successful education programme.

Last year over 400 children in the North-East took part in this 'real science' project to learn more about preserving their local river.

And with these grants from Northumbrian Water and the Local Environmental Action Fund of Tyne and Wear Community Foundation the Trust hopes up to 900 more pupils will take part between now and Spring 2014.

Founded in 2008, one of the key aims of the Trust is to raise awareness of the value and beauty of their local river and its wildlife and encourage people to explore, enjoy and look after it.

Getting young people to make connections with their natural environment is vital and the grants mean it can continue to offer field trips and projects to schools and groups free of charge.

The programme supports many aspects of the national curriculum.

The Trust is now looking for new schools to join the scheme.

Each month pupils provide a report on the water quality at a local site. Free training and equipment is given to teachers to help children take samples and identify the fascinating creatures they manage to catch.

The data is returned to the Trust and then sent to the Environment Agency so it's very much an opportunity for children to contribute to real science at the same time as improving their scientific and numerical skills.

Ten schools are already involved and new teachers will be able to train in the spring.

The Trust is equally keen that children who are not close to a river don't miss out. For these schools, it is introducing the new Mayfly in the Classroom Project. Children learn about the same topics and develop similar skills but only need two trips to a river: one to collect mayfly nymphs and one to release the adults, which they care for in school.

Over a two week period, they build temporary homes for the mayflies and monitor conditions such as water temperature. The project acts as a catalyst for all sorts of written and creative activities inspired by watching the amazing lifecycle of the mayflies.

The third strand of the programme is the provision of one-off river trips and visits which can be tailor-made to help young people meet their geography and science learning objectives.

Any teacher who is interested can contact Lizzie Willows who can arrange for pupils to cover a huge variety of topics including habitats, food chains and river features either on-site or in the class room. Schools which have benefited from this service in the last year include Chester-le-Street CE Juniors, Richard Avenue Primary, Hylton Red House Primary, Seaburn Dene Primary, Hetton Primary and Hetton Lyons Primary.

Any school wishing to participate in any of the schemes in 2013 should contact Lizzie Willows on 01388 488867 or 07880 189232 or visit wear-rivers-trust.org.uk