Children at Iron Acton Primary School in South Gloucestershire built a house and met a hedgehog during an action-packed series of learning activities with Merlin and Lovell.
Housing association Merlin and local homes developer Lovell — who are working together on a major new homes development in the village — joined forces with the school to organise the activity sessions. Pupils tested their maths and problem-solving skills by completing the Lovell House challenge, which involves building a mini house. They also created homes for wildlife by painting bird and bat boxes which will be installed in the school grounds and at the new housing development. In addition, there were talks by Yvonne Cox, founder of the Yate-based Hedgehog Rescue charity and ecologist Rob Crane.
Lovell Community Coordinator Bernadette Vickery commented: “The children loved the activities and amazed us all with their creativity. The themes of ‘home’ and ‘habitat’ helped link the sessions, from the Lovell House challenge and the bird and bat box painting to the work of Hedgehog Rescue raising awareness about how to make the local environment safer for the hedgehog population.”
The school-based activities followed an earlier visit organised by Merlin and Lovell where pupils toured the major local homes development under construction by Lovell in their village. Merlin’s Customer Liaison Officer Sarah Durbin added: “It was a really good day. All the pupils really seemed to enjoy themselves, they were really engaged during all the activities; it was great to see them so interested.”
Merlin is building 27 new homes in Algars Drive, Chilwood Close and Nibley Lane, Iron Acton, to replace 18 older properties. The new homes are part of 72 which Merlin is building in the village and nearby Coalpit Heath as part of an ongoing development programme replacing pre-cast reinforced concrete properties with modern, energy-efficient homes.
Pictured above are pupils Savannah, Tilly and Montana painting bird boxes with Alice Phillips from Merlin and Lovell Site Manager Paul Jones.
