Children in Year 5 donned cagoules, wading boots and long walking sticks to clamber through a river. Deptford Creek or ‘Deep Ford’ was named after its tidal Creek. As the tide falls each day it exposes almost a kilometre of riverbed. As you can see, the children loved wading across it.

As part of developing the children’s skills of geographical enquiry, Year 5 found out about the many stories the river bed can tell. The Creek has a long history of fishing, ship building and dockyards. Trades and industries from chemical works to tidal mills and slaughterhouses have all used its banks. There is still evidence on these river beds and Year 5 were keen to discover.

“It was amazing, “said Nasim “We were able to see many live animals such as leeches, shrimps , flounders and we even found a crab’s exoskeleton .”

“The water level was high but we were able to see things beneath the water. There was even a pair of old trousers.”  Brian stated “But it was able to teach us about how we need to keep our rivers clean. We have come a long way since the Victorians used to throw horseshoes and old meat carcasses in to the river.  I will definitely be recycling all my waste.”