Interactive Sustainability Development Day at St Stephen’s Primary School, Twickenham

We ran an interactive day of presentations and workshops with 60, Year 3 pupils, to raise awareness of what sustainability means, exploring the challenges and impact of climate change and what can be done to tackle it. Topics included:

• Energy within Cities: what is energy? why are sustainable energy sources important? And what we are we doing?
• Mobility: how we can get around our cities sustainably
• Green Spaces: wellbeing, recreation and environmental value

Split in to working groups we encouraged the children to create their own city, via mind-mapping, that they presented to the class. Provided with an outline drawing of a city, pupils were also given the opportunity to draw their 2D cities and finally, build their sustainable settlement in 3D. Following a short presentation from the pupils of their city we awarded them with a recyclable ‘Sustainability Champion’ badge for their involvement in the day.

“Enabling children to get involved in this exercise and encouraging them to think about what sustainability is and the impact of their actions is hugely important. At HLM the social value impact that we have on the world around us informs our decisions. By interacting with the pupils of St Stephens, we have not only been able to educate and encourage the next generation but have also been given valuable insight into their thinking around the future of our cities”. Said Richard O’Neil, Chairman at HLM Architects.

One Year 3 teacher said, “HLM Architects led ‘St. Stephen’s Sustainability Development Day’ and it was a huge success. The team came to inspire and motivate the children, where the day culminated in the building of a 3D model of a brand-new sustainable settlement, in line with Year 3’s topic on settlements. The attention to detail, planning and care that HLM showed was truly excellent, ensuring that the day ran smoothly and at a pace that the children could maintain their engagement. Resources were organised and provided by HLM and really allowed for the children to become very excited, inspired and creative. Initially the children learnt about all the necessary aspects of a truly sustainable settlement. This was then followed by being able to design and physically create their own settlement. I know that every child greatly enjoyed the whole day and experience, all while learning from professionals within the industry. I very much hope that the same experience can be afforded to the children in Year 3 next year. It was a wonderful day full of immersive learning.”

Year 3 Student, “First, we had a look at what sustainable means and how we can make a city sustainable. Then, we drew a replica of what our sustainable city would look like. We used materials such as pipe cleaners, playdough, lolly sticks and tissue paper to try and create what we had drawn in a 3D model on a piece of board. Lastly, we compared our sustainable cities with one another. Each group took it in turn to explain what materials they had used and why. Also, they explained how their city would work and how they were sustainable. I thought the day was pretty good. I enjoyed building and designing our cities because I enjoy building things with Lego as well”.