Taylor Wimpey backs national schools project
New homes builder Taylor Wimpey is inviting primary schools across the region to take part in a national schools project, launched this week. Changing Lives, Changing Communities is a curriculum-based history project for Key Stage 2 pupils which looks at how our homes and the way we live have changed over the last 100 years.
The project focuses on the Victorian era and includes a local history study, a comparison of homes and lifestyles and an insight into the period’s inventions. A comprehensive work book and support materials can be downloaded by teachers, free of charge, at: taylorwimpey.co.uk/schools
To kick start the campaign, Taylor Wimpey commissioned a junior think tank of over 1,000 seven to 11 year olds to give their predictions on what life will be like 100 years in the future – with some interesting results!
Over a third of kids surveyed believed that robots would carry out most of our households tasks and other gadgets of the future included self-cleaning toilets, clothes that don’t need washing and ADMs (that’s Automatic Dinner-making Machines). 65% of children in the North East also predicted that our homes will be made out of high tech materials, not yet invented, and 56% thought they would be made out of recycled products. The panel also believed that the growth in the world’s population will mean we’ll have to find other places to live, including man-made islands floating in the sea (39%), underground bases (32%) and space stations orbiting earth (30%).
Only 4% of children in our region thought we would still be heating our homes in the same way we do today. Instead, 49% thought homes would be heated by solar power and 32% thought wind turbines would provide the energy needed to heat our homes. A move to greener methods of transport was also predicted, with 56% of children believing that we would all be driving electric cars by 2110. Other possible methods of transport included solar-powered cars, hover boards, moving pavements and teleporting.
Joan Peart, Taylor Wimpey regional sales and marketing director, comments: “Our schools campaign looks at the way our homes and lifestyles have changed over the last century, so we thought it would be fun to ask children how they thought we might live 100 years in the future. We are really keen to work closely with schools and communities in the areas in which we build and Changing Lives, Changing Communities is a really interesting project that helps children understand the changing world around us.
“The schools campaign is specially designed for seven to 11 year olds and has been developed alongside education experts and practicing teachers. We’d like to urge any local primary school teachers or history co-ordinators interested in taking part to visit our website and find out more.”
Taylor Wimpey is currently building new homes on developments across the region including Langley View and The Park in Durham, Moorcroft in Spennymoor, Fairfield Park in Murton, East Moor Village and Greenside at Newcastle Great Park, Westoe Crown Village in South Shields, Staiths South Bank in Gateshead, Copperfields in Boldon Colliery and Hedgeley Court in Hebburn, further afield is The Headway in Hartlepool.
