Reptiles crawl onto the curriculum

Lizards and snakes were the hot topic at Cowplain Community School recently when Bryant Homes paid a visit to Year 7 students to talk about the discovery of the reptiles at its popular Dukes Meadow development in Waterlooville.

In front of a captivated audience of 230, Saul Mead, senior engineer at Bryant Homes, spoke to the 10 and 11 year olds about the reptile discovery and the measures being employed to ensure their protection whilst Dukes Meadow is being built. To test how closely they’d been listening, the students then took part in a quiz, hosted by Karen Wolsgrove, homes consultant at the development, impressing both the teachers and Bryant Homes with their knowledge.

The school visit was the second of a series of projects planned between Bryant Homes and Cowplain Community School. Pupils are now putting their creative thinking caps on to write and illustrate a story using a lizard or snake as the main character, about its life at the development and the adventures it encounters. The young authors of the shortlisted entries will be invited to visit Dukes Meadow in the autumn where prizes will be awarded to the winning stories.

Yvonne Barber, Assistant Head Teacher at Cowplain Community School, said: “We were delighted to welcome Saul and Karen to our school and are looking forward to the trip to Dukes Meadow in the autumn. It’s fantastic that we’ve been able to partner with Bryant Homes for a series of projects; especially one based on a reptile discovery, which as you can imagine was of great interest to the students and they’re all working very hard on their short stories.”

Saul Mead added: “Bryant Homes is committed to supporting the local communities in which it builds and we always try to partner with a local school for projects of this nature. We’re very excited to read the stories that the pupils are currently working on and we look forward to welcoming them to Dukes Meadow.”

The development was named by Cowplain Community School pupil Sade Allison and is situated on the site of Old Park Farm, south of Hambledon Road in Waterlooville. When complete it will consist of 450 Eco Homes (homes which include a range of eco-friendly features such as energy and water conservation measures, solar power and sustainable building materials) and 24 live/work units (homes which can also be used as a business premise). There are also plans for playing fields, footpaths and cycle ways as well as areas of nature conservation for residents to enjoy.

For further information about the homes available at Dukes Meadow visit the marketing suite which is open Thursday-Sunday from 10am-5pm and on Monday from 1pm-5pm, or visit bryant.co.uk and enter the postcode PO7 6XA into the quick search box.