St Mary’s Island Primary school pupils team up with Orbit Homes to become ‘Eco Buddies’

Pupils at St Mary’s Island Primary School in Chatham recently put their biodiversity knowledge to the test after participating in ‘Eco Buddies’, our new, free educational programme.

‘Eco Buddies’ aims to support pupils with their understanding of nature and what they can do to promote greater biodiversity.

During the session, Orbit Homes colleagues helped pupils to build and decorate their own bird boxes, bird tables and bug hotels, before pupils chose appropriate locations around the school grounds to install them in. Students were also taught more about the important role that plants and animals play in keeping our planet healthy.

Pupils also learnt how Orbit Homes works to develop sustainably, including how the housebuilder integrates eco-friendly features such as hedgehog highways and bug hotels into its new homes and developments. 

Brian Nearney, Regional Managing Director at Orbit Homes, commented: “We were delighted to join pupils at St Mary’s Island Primary School for an exciting Eco Buddies session. It was a great opportunity to help the children learn more about biodiversity and how they can make their own positive impact on the environment, both at home and at school.

“All the pupils were amazing at building and decorating the bird boxes, bird tables and bug hotels, and we’d like to thank St Mary’s Island Primary School for having us.”

Mrs Wright, Outdoor Learning and Forest School Lead at St Mary’s Island Primary School, added: “Our pupils are very interested in the environment and love to explore outdoors so Eco Buddies was a fantastic way to launch our recent Outdoor Enrichment Week. The activities were such a fun and creative way to engage our pupils and give them the chance to get hands-on with some eco-friendly activities. We are incredibly grateful to Orbit Homes for generously providing the resources that made these experiences possible for the pupils and for inspiring our very own ‘Eco Buddies’.”

Eco Buddies is designed to support students in understanding the importance of nature and how all living things are connected. Free classroom resources are available for schools to download at orbithomes.org.uk/eco-buddies.

To book a visit and for more information, schools can contact eco.buddies@orbit.org.uk

Eco Buddies joins Building Buddies, another educational programme from Orbit Homes that allows primary school children to experience hands-on visits to construction sites. Pupils can learn about all the different processes involved in building a brand-new home and how the skills they learn in Maths and English are used daily in a variety of jobs. Find out more about ‘Building Buddies’ here.

Orbit Homes currently has several developments underway in the Kent and Medway region, offering a range of affordable one, two, three and four-bedroom houses and apartments exclusively available through Shared Ownership.

For more information about the range of properties available from Orbit Homes across the South, visit: www.orbithomes.org.uk.

Picture captions: St Mary’s Island Primary School pupils built and decorated bird boxes alongside Orbit Homes colleagues as part of the affordable housebuilder’s free ‘Eco Buddies’ educational programme.