Primary 1-4 at Leswalt Primary have been learning all about community development this term. As part of that work they have been looking at the process of building development. In class the pupils were asked to design and plan out their dream house. The tricky part came next – as Mrs Mc Knight, the class teacher, then asked the pupils to take their plans home and actually build the house, with help from parents. The houses that were built were amazing – as support from parents was phenomenal.
Design features that were incorporated into pupils’ plans included garages, conservatories, solar panels, flues for log burners, drain pipes and even Santa going down a chimney.A wide range of materials was used by children at home to build their model houses – including clay, wood, card, gravel, gingerbread and even a rough cast of sand, paint and glue.
The learning of the process of building was reinforced when Ian Mac Fadzean (architect), Tommy Currie and Iona Brooke (planning department) and Ian Marshall (Luce Bay construction) were invited into school to come and tell the children more about their role. They came in with tools and plans to illustrate to the class how they went about their job. The pupils asked lots of questions and learned more about the process of building a house and possible careers in the future.
At the end of the question and answer session, Mr Currie, Mr Marshall and Mr Mac Fadzean were set their own challenge – they had to pick their favourite house. All agreed it was a very difficult job before opting for Aidan (p1) and his gingerbread house which he baked with Mum, Chloe (p2) and her cottage which she rough casted with mum and Auryn (p3) and Breagh (p1) who worked with Mum to make a mansion complete with drain pipes, hanging baskets and window boxes.
The children learned a tremendous amount through this active learning and community involvement and the professionals left Leswalt Primary that day fearing for their jobs, after seeing the skills and knowledge demonstrated by the children!
What a brilliant afternoon. Fancy having four visitors to talk about building houses. The models look great. What a variety of designs and materials.