Milepost 3 - ‘Building a Village’

The Milepost 3 unit ‘Building a Village’ came to a spectacular conclusion with the students hosting a planning exhibition.

Children were set the task of looking at the local area and in groups discussing services and facilities that would benefit the community. From these discussions they then created models of the area and presented planning ideas to members of the public (parents and staff). The hardest and most daunting part of the task was after their presentations, where the groups had to answer questions about their plans and findings. Some of the questioning was fierce, but the answers from the students were magnificent and they more than held their own.

One parent who knows a great deal about this industry made the following comments:

One of the things my company does is in fact exactly what the students did for your neighborhood planning exercise.  We help developers decide what types of buildings they should build on their land and how much and what type of each different property they should have. I thought the students delivered a high level of well thought out models and explanations.

I could tell the students had thought about their existing neighborhood area, considered the services that would be needed and included a number of options to appeal to a broad number of residents and visitors. I was impressed to see a range of housing options including high rises and villas, a range of different restaurant types and many services including banks, hospitals, places of worship and emergency services. Your students also provided a nice range of entertainment options including sports facilities, cinemas and zoos. Very importantly, they also didn’t forget about green space and provided nice parks and greenways along the rivers. The result was a wide variety of neighborhoods that looked like they would be great places to live. Many of the groups were very innovative with their energy ideas and the range of solar panels and wind turbines and other ideas was proof of innovative thinking which the world will certainly need in the coming decades.

Designing and building a project is part of the work, but explaining why one has chosen a specific set of options is just as important. The groups did a great job of introducing their project and handled some very tough questions during the Q&A session. Many of them could make a career with a developer, an urban planner, an engineering firm, a designer or a property management company.

I commend your students and the teachers for putting so much energy into this project and congratulate them on such great models and explanations.

Regards,
Michael Hart

We would like to say a huge thank you to all who attended the event. The children really appreciated your support, questioning and feedback. We look forward to seeing you again in the future!

UP NEXT:

Get ready for the smell of bread in the Junior School corridor, as Milepost 3 get their aprons on for their next unit, ‘Bake It!’