“The good quality of leadership throughout the school is driving the development of teaching and learning…”
Ofsted Inspection Nov 2007
Horsham school makes water saving sense
Students from Tanbridge House School in Horsham have impressed judges with their plans to save water as part of a pioneering new programme.
The Water Design Challenge which was run by Southern Water and the Design Council, challenged students from five schools across the south to use design techniques to come up with innovative ways to save water around their school and in the wider community.
Helped by professional designer Dave Moxey from Woking firm Round and Red and experts from Southern Water, the school developed their ideas and presented their pitch to judges at an awards ceremony at Bewl Water reservoir in Kent.
Their design, the Crystal Clear multi media water saving campaign, impressed the judges, including Designer Wayne Hemingway, Darren Bentham from Southern Water, Rose Timlett from the WWF and David Godber from the Design Council. They designed a cartoon water drop character that would appear in an animated film adventure and on posters to raise awareness of how important it is to save water. In addition they designed a rainwater harvesting system for a new part of their school playground.
The school will now receive £1,000 from Southern Water to bring their design to life or spend on design resources in the school.
Miss Sweet, eco-schools co-ordinator, who ran the project at Tanbridge House School, said : “The students learnt a lot during the project and came up with some really creative ideas that demonstrated how they had thought about and addressed water issues within both the wider world and closer to home. They worked incredibly hard and were a real credit to themselves and the school. “
Darren Bentham, Director of Metering at Southern Water, said: “The standard of the entries and the enthusiasm we saw from the students was outstanding. The team from Tanbridge House worked on both a campaign and a practical solution both of which were excellent ideas.”
Wayne Hemingway said: “There were some excellent ideas. This project has worked as the kids want to spread the word. They were totally engaged and have obviously got so much out of it.”
David Godber added: “It was truly amazing! From the World’s smallest water museum to rainwater harvesting in the playground and a whole stack of innovative campaigns. These students came up with outstanding ideas for harvesting and conserving water resources.”
Southern Water and the Design Council now plan to roll out the programme to schools across the region.
Visit www.waterdesignchallenge.com to read the blogs from the students throughout the challenge.