The year four class of Chaucer Junior School, based in Ilkeston, has reached the final stage of the Royal Horticultural Society Chatsworth Flower Show 2017 competition to discover the most architecturally impressive bug hotel after receiving help from Leonard Design Architects.
Chaucer Junior School teamed up with Leonard Design to get its advice on standing out from the crowd at the inaugural RHS Chatsworth Flower Show which this year celebrates ‘design revolutionaries’, as well as meeting the brief of designing a bug hotel to fit the theme of ‘inspiring architecture: past, present and future’.
Jane Oldnall, year four teacher at Chaucer Junior School, said: “We are thrilled to have made it through to the final stages of the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show competition. We have one entry in the finals but the entire class has been working really hard to bring the ‘Chaucer Bug and Breakfast’ design to life.”
In addition to giving professional advice and whittling the entries down to one for submission to the competition, the team at Leonard Design also hosted the class for a talk about a career in architecture. John Morgan, director at Leonard Design, said: “I was really impressed with the variety of ideas from the pupils – each design was really well thought out, demonstrating that they had completely understood quite a difficult brief from RHS Chatsworth.
“The next generation is incredibly important to the continued success of architecture as an industry, especially in the East Midlands. With that in mind, having the children in to meet the team and show them what we do was really valuable and will hopefully give them the extra passion to take home the prize at the Flower Show.”
Jane added: “John very kindly gave some excellent feedback on the top seven designs and the children left feeling very inspired and enthusiastic about their projects which was fantastic to see. We are currently in the building stage of the project ready to submit the bug hotel before the show which runs 7-11 June.
“I must also give a huge thanks to Kerry Wheatley, founder of Chaucer Junior School’s gardening club, for entering the class into the competition and supporting with the project.”
The winners of the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show Schools’ Bug Hotel Competition will receive garden centre vouchers and a certificate with £200 for first place, £125 for second place and £50 for third place.
For further information about Chaucer Junior School visit www.chaucerjunior.org.uk or to find out more about Leonard Design visit www.leonard.design or on Twitter.
