De La Salle College Junior School chose the Bee theme for the academic year 2021-2022, encouraging the Lasallian community to be anything they want to be and raising awareness about the benefits of bees.

Bees are losing their natural habitat due to climate change and urban development. Creating a happy place for bees can attract bees back to their environment, which is excellent for your backyard and local gardens.

The Ekoskola De La Salle College members had the opportunity to visit the Design and Technology lab in the Senior School to watch the senior students create their bee hotel. These were built using timber, bamboo sticks, old hoses and other recycled material.

They made plenty of smooth, cylindrical spaces wide enough for the pollinators to seek refuge and completed them with a sloping roof. The students made 24 bee hotels in all, which were placed around the school’s garden.

As bees return to their hotel, they pollinate flowers along the way. The more bees we have residing at the hotels, the more our garden will flourish, and the more bees can reproduce. It is a win-win situation!

This project was done by the Senior School students in collaboration with the Junior School. Hopefully, it will encourage our friends to set up their bee hotels and do their small bit to help increase these tiny creatures who do so much for us.

Matthias Mangion is a Grade 5 student and EkoSkola vice president of De La Salle College.