Design, Build & Help!

PUBLISHED 26 September 2022

During our International Round Square conference, held this week, pupils in Year 8 AKS Design & Technology lessons, have been designing & making bug houses together.

In support of the overall theme of ‘Take less, be more’ we decided to focus on making something which involved recycling & would benefit nature, in our local school allotment space.

In D&T we are committed to recycling & as you can see from the images below, we have used only recycled materials to make our bug hotels. We recycled wooden pallets from our groundsmen, plastic containers from our kitchen and staff/pupils have been collecting natural materials to pack our containers; to make cosy new homes for a variety of bugs.

Insects are valuable & fascinating friends to our gardens & natural spaces. Did you know… Bugs assist with decomposition, proving rich soil & provide food for animals such as birds, and bats. You too can attract bugs to your garden by planting or creating habitats for them to hibernate. Piles of dead wood, logs, and vegetation are all suitable for hibernating beetles & ladybirds.

The atmosphere is D&T today was electric! All pupils worked in teams to innovate & problem solve together, with the help of some our wonderful sixth form students. The design team were challenged with incorporating Architecture into their designs, whilst considering the function of each unit. Our Graphic Designers worked on the computers, generating bespoke plaques for each bug hotel. These were then lasered to produce a high-quality additions to each product design. And the manufacturing team were tasked with using a selection of natural materials, to produce an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of twigs, pine cones etc. This team had the responsibility of making a safe space, which would provide space for different bugs to crawl, creep, fly and roam freely; whilst providing shelter and a natural habitat.

Miss Burke, Head of Design & Technology “I am proud of our school and it’s efforts this week, to go above and beyond, to challenge pupils with pressing environmental matters. Pupils today have worked diligently to produce items that can be enjoyed for some time to come. Each Year 8 will continue to explore recycling in their D&T lessons, resulting in our annual recycling challenge due in October”