A group of Eco Club pupils from Taunton Preparatory School have built several beehives, and are successfully now harvesting honey.
After working on a project around ‘sustainable locally grown food’, the Year 7 and 8 pupils decided they would like to build their own beehives to help the environment and produce honey. The pupils set about creating a ‘beekeeping club’ as part of their existing Eco Club, learning about the lifecycle of bees, their importance to farming and the environment.
Earlier this year, they built their beehives in their own time using the school DT facilities, and they are now fully populated on a site near to Taunton School.
With help from teachers Tom Raven and Hamish McCarthy, they have just spun their first honey and cut honeycomb. They sold their first delicious yield at the recent school summer fair. The profits they made will be used to buy beekeeping suits to educate more young people about the importance of bees.
It will also support their other eco-projects such as upkeep of their existing orchard, planted on the school grounds with which they have produced their own apple juice and cider vinegar, and maintenance of their bird boxes, which they have built and situated around the school trees.
Freya Bartels in Year 8 said: “No matter how small your project is, it still makes a difference, so we should all do our bit.”
Eco Club Co-ordinator and Science teacher Tom Raven said: “Making these beehives is part of a school eco initiative to show pupils the benefits of sourcing local produce to help reduce carbon footprints.”
