Inventive youngsters at a Leicester primary school have learnt all about bees and biodiversity after winning a prestigious national competition.
Cosby Primary School is also set to adopt its own beehive as part of the prize, after coming first in the UK Intellectual Property Office’s ‘Wallace and Gromit’s Cracking Ideas Competition.’
Pupils at the school, aged 4-11, took to the drawing board last year and invented over 200 sustainable and fun new modes of transport for the famous invention loving duo – Wallace and Gromit, powering them over 1000 miles on a virtual journey around the UK. Many of the competition entries were inspired by the humble bumble bee and natural environment.
After winning the competition last month, the pupils and their teachers were treated with a prize which saw them adopt no less than 10,000 bees and a sustainably built home for the pollinators. The bees will be based in the green hills of Neath, home to South Wales based company Bee1. Throughout the year the pupils and teachers will view live stream footage of their hive and receive updates from their dedicated beekeeper. Pupils and staff also rolled up their sleeves and took to creating eco-friendly bee bombs which will now spread wildflower seeds around the local community.
Debra Gibson, Art and Design Technology Lead, Cosby Primary School said: “Both children and staff were thrilled and excited to have the opportunity to invite our own beekeeper from ‘Bee1’ into our school, to tell us about our beehive and bees, which was one of the fantastic competition prizes.
“The children were amazed to learn that our school has adopted 10,000 bees and had lots of interesting questions for our beekeeper. Our children and staff in reception were also delighted to be able to take part in a workshop ran by our beekeeper and competition organisers to make ‘bee bombs’ to plant around the school and try some of the honey produced by our bees. We will look forward to learning more about bees, receiving regular updates about what our bees are up to and of course some more honey!”
Mark Douglas, Founder, Bee1, said: “We were delighted to support the IPO schools’ competition by providing the school challenge prize to Cosby Primary school. The school has received lots of educational resources, some practical Bee related activities, plus their own school beehive with ten thousand honeybees. Pollinators play such a crucial role to our eco systems, and are under threat. Thanks to the IPO for the support.”
If you know any budding inventors ages 4 to 11 that would love to get their hands on some prizes, make sure you visit www.crackingideas.com or follow the IPO Education – Cracking Ideas social media channels to find out more.
