Sandhills Community School

As you walk into the entrance of Sandhills school you are greeted by parts of an enormous puppet that the children have made with artists Joe Swarbrick and Rob Dicks.  They have drawn not only on their work with sustainable architect Halla Huws, but also Greek mythology and the papier mache puppets reflect not only the kinds of people they envisage living in their eco community but elements of fire, water and earth.

The children and the school drama group have been improvising stories connected to environmental themes that enable the puppets to tell their stories of their dreams for a brighter greener future.  Set to music and songs the children have been learning, these promise to provide an impressive spectacle on the Ark and the high quality of the puppets demonstrates the children and artists’ commitment to the project.

Pupils displaying their model eco-school.

In this, their final science session, the pupils at Sandhills Community School spent the afternoon mounting their model eco homes and buildings onto a large platform, made from two recycled doors, to create a model eco community. The community was named ‘Eco Town’.

Communal gardens, pathways, roads and even car parks were painted on as part of the urban design. Last minute adaptations included a village duck pond and allotments with a number of vegetable patches. The end result looked fabulous and the class were extremely proud of the finished result!

Pupils designing their low carbon houses.

The promising eco developers of the future at Sandhills Community School really have delivered the goods! On time and on budget, the pupils at Sandhills spent their final science workshop with Halla, putting the finishing touches to each of their model buildings.

From grass rooves and vegetable patches to wind turbines and photovoltaic panels – the pupils really knew their stuff when it came to sustainable housing. In small groups they had built a range of model buildings that when mounted together will create an entire eco community. These comprised houses, schools, and a community centre, built from recycled boxes, paper mache and tin foil.

At the end of the session each of the groups presented their model buildings to Joe Swarbrick and Rob Dicks from Pegasus Theatre.  Rob and Joe will use the children’s eco community as the stimulus to create large scale puppets and a musical choir for a piece of performance theatre that will be performed on the CIAO! Ark when it is installed in Oxford in June.

Pupils taking part in a class quiz

The second Sandhills Community School science workshop began with pupils being designated as eco building firms to take part in a class quiz. The questions centered on eco-housing and cemented all that they had learnt in their first science workshop!

It became apparent to Halla that she was working with a class of budding town planners, aware of many of the green technologies required to build an eco-community. The class was divided into groups that each started designing eco-homes that will become part of a larger model eco-community. Many of the designs incorporated solar panels, wind turbines, roof gardens with vegetable patches and ponds and birdhouses to sustain wildlife.

By the end of the day the children had moved on from their designs and were starting to build their model eco-homes from cardboard boxes and paper mache. Fun was had by all - including the adults! The foundations were laid and in the next session they will complete their model eco community.

Halla Huws presentation