Teachers, get your classrooms ready for National Water Week!

National Water Week is coming up from 19–25 October 2026, with this year’s theme: How water connects everything.

For teachers, National Water Week is a great opportunity to help students to begin to explore the connections between water, people, places, plants, animals and the choices we make every day. What better place to start learning about water than learning about your local waterway?

From the classroom to the creek, water is everywhere, even when we can't see it.

Rain falls on our schoolyards, streets and gardens. It flows into drains and creeks, through wetlands and catchments, and eventually into our rivers and the sea. Along the way, it connects us with the plants and animals that depend on healthy waterways, and with the communities that live, work and play around them. It also connects our everyday actions with the health of our waterways. A piece of litter dropped on a street can become litter in a creek. What happens in a schoolyard can become part of a much bigger water story. National Water Week is a chance for students to discover those connections for themselves.

Ready-made learning resources for teachers

To help schools explore these ideas, Georges Riverkeeper has partnered with the Georges River Environmental Education Centre to develop curriculum-linked learning resources for schools across the Georges River catchment.

The Zero Litter in Georges River learning resources are available for:

• Stage 1 HSI
  Water environments and active citizenship
• Stage 2 HSIE
  Australia's environments and active citizenship
• Stage 4 Geography
  Water in the world

The lessons explore the problem of litter in the Georges River, encourage students to investigate their local waterway and support them to think about how they can make a positive difference. Students are also encouraged to visit their local waterway, discovering the plants and animals that live there and developing a deeper connection with these special places.

Turn learning into action

The resources don't stop at learning about the problem. Students are encouraged to become active participants by developing their own anti-littering campaigns and sharing messages about keeping the Georges River litter-free. That makes them a great fit for this year's How water connects everything theme.

Students can start by asking:

• Where does our water go?
• What does our local waterway connect us to?
• How do our actions affect it?
• And what can we do to help?

Bring National Water Week into your classroom

Whether you're planning a classroom lesson, a schoolyard investigation or a visit to your local creek, National Water Week is a great time to help students look at their surroundings differently. Because once you start following the water, you start seeing the connections everywhere.

Get your class ready for National Water Week and explore the Georges Riverkeeper learning resources for school students today. It only takes a moment to register your interest and then you can immediately access the resources.

National Water Week: 19–25 October 2026
Theme: How water connects everything