A 10-year-old boy from South Shields is one of the winners of a design competition incorporating renewable energy into architecture.
Jack Moss designed a solar panel heated homeless shelter and his winning design was one of four picked out of 167 ideas to have a prototype made.
The Year 5 pupil of SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School, which is part of Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust, was thrilled to win the Powering the Future: South Tyneside and Beyond! competition.
“It is a good feeling to have won the competition,” said Jack. “I loved going to the architect’s office, and I loved seeing my design.”
South Tyneside Council and Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which is in the process of becoming the world’s largest offshore wind farm capable of powering six million British homes, teamed up with Little Inventors to launch Powering the Future: South Tyneside and Beyond! The competition encouraged Year 4 and Year 5 pupils to take on invention challenges created for their year group. The challenges focused on the role and uses of wind and various forms of renewable energy and encouraged children to expand their STEM skills and widen their knowledge of renewable energy.
The judging team at Little Inventors, which included a member of South Tyneside Council, Chief Inventor Dominic Wilcox and a previous winner of an energy challenge, was blown away by the entries.
Jack said: “My invention, Sleep and H20 2000, is a solar panel heated homeless shelter. The shelter uses sun energy to create heat for homeless people to sleep in. The shelter has a drinking water fountain that is made from filtered rainwater.”
The schoolboy was thrilled to meet the architects via Zoom to see the prototype of his design for the first time.
“Our Year 5 children really enjoyed the Little Inventors challenge and we are thrilled that Jack’s design was chosen to be made into a prototype,” said Rachael Purvis, Year 5 Class Teacher.
“His design incorporated our learning from geography as well as design technology and I cannot wait to visit the exhibition to see his hard work come to life.”
The work will be showcased at an exhibition at The Word, South Tyneside’s state-of-the-art cultural venue, in July.
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Photo captions: Jack Moss, 10, a Year 5 pupil of SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School, South Shields, whose design for a solar-powered homeless shelter won a competition. Also pictured is Jack’s winning design.