Wednesday was a very different day for the students of 10/47 and 8/48, as they went about constructing a new feature in the grounds of their school.

These students have been studying ecology in their science classes with their teachers Mrs O’Hare and Miss McNamee.  As part of this aspect of their Science course, the students have explored the environment of St Paul’s.  Firstly, Mrs O’Hare’s group carried out a full survey of the school’s environment, which revealed that very few bugs are residing in our school grounds.  This was concerning as the group knew that invertebrates play a vital part our eco-system. Miss McNamee’s students carried out a research project on invertebrates, which involved the students creating their own identification keys for various invertebrates.

Meanwhile, the Year 8 groups focused on the habitats and the native environment preferred by invertebrate.   This involved a small research project, to identify the best habitats for bugs.  From this the group were able to identify the various materials they should use to construct their bug hotel.  Meanwhile the Year 9 and 10 students travelled to Ballymoyer, with the aim of examining the bug hotel which the primary school had built and maintained.

This give them plenty of ideas about what they should include their project.  They went about collecting materials that they would use to create the bug hotel, this included pine cones, leaf litter, straw, bricks, tiles and woods.  The roof was the brainchild of Mrs O’Hare’s Year 8 group.  They decided to plant some wild flowers on the roof, with the hope that this would attract some nectar loving insects e.g. butterflies and bees.

After a number of weeks of preparation the group went about constructing the Jewel in the crown of their Ecology project, their very own bug hotel.  It only took a few hours, but it was definitely hard work, and I’ve no doubt the bug hotel will be an ideal habitat for the min-beasts which come to visit.

A big thank you to Hughes Shop in Camlough who supplied the pallets for our project.  Also to Colm Trainor and Gabriel Morris who help with the power tools, keeping everything stable and sturdy.  Also to the staff & students who worked really hard to complete the project in a few hours