Ask the students at Carlton School about the sea and they can tell you all about it.
The young students of rooms 1 and 15 were at Castlecliff beach yesterday morning to put what they'd learned in the classroom into practice.
The students told the Wanganui Chronicle they had been learning about the oceans and seas, and about ocean pollution. They were researching different plants and animals from the sea, and had watched a video about the amount of rubbish in the ocean.
At the beach, the students spent several hours picking up rubbish from the beach and after just half an hour had already collected nearly a full bag of rubbish.
Teacher Le'Anne Steedman said it was shocking to see the amount of rubbish on the beach.
"We've found nappies, cans, shoes, plastic - all kinds of rubbish."
Mrs Steedman said after picking up rubbish, the students had morning tea at the beach, then spent some time collecting shells, stones and driftwood to take back to school to make sculptures.
One student said he would like to come back to the beach regularly to pick up rubbish.
"It's really important that our beaches are clean, so the rubbish doesn't go into the sea," he said.