Back to school with Redrow

Wed, Sep 13th 2006, 11:00

As the new school year gets underway, it’s a good time for teachers and pupils to re-acquaint themselves with the Redrow Learning Web.

 This online learning resource from award winning housebuilder Redrow uses the house building process and development of new communities to help children of all ages develop their skills in history, geography and citizenship, among other subjects.

 The Redrow Learning Web has already been given a four-star rating by a panel of teachers writing for the teacher-led ‘Schoolzone’ website, one of the UK's most used educational sites, as well as the biggest.

 Redrow’s site includes separate modules for primary school children aged nine to 11 and secondary pupils aged 12 to 16, as well as a special ‘Buster the bear’ section for younger children, focused on the potential dangers of building sites.

 The free online curriculum resource was produced for Redrow by specialists within the education and electronic resources industry and meets National Curriculum requirements.

 ‘The House Detectives’ module invites children aged eight to 11 years to become ‘super sleuths’, challenging them to compare and contrast their own community with others around the UK and to develop their history and geography skills in the process.

 Simon Bennett, Redrow’s group marketing director says: “Among other things it encourages them to use their investigative skills to discover how their home town or village has evolved over time, what type of person lives there, why they live there and what improvements they would like to see in the future. The worksheets available can be used in the classroom or can be developed into field trips or visits to local Redrow developments where appropriate.”

 For older children at Key Stage 3 and 4, ‘Plan It…Build It!’ provides a set of teaching materials which give students the opportunity to research, plan, market, design and ‘build’ a fictional housing development within an imaginary community.

 The project encourages pupils to work in teams to take into account a full range of considerations such as housing supply, planning policy, environmental concerns, sustainability and customer needs.

 Simon adds: “As well as being an excellent opportunity for young people to appreciate the skills involved in designing, planning, constructing and marketing new housing projects and to develop an understanding of the planning system, ‘Plan It…Build It!’ also offers a chance for pupils to develop their communication and problem solving skills and to learn about being informed citizens.

 “We are committed to supporting education at a local and national level and see the Redrow Learning Web as an important part of this. As well as helping young people with their studies, hopefully it will also help us to nurture the talents, interest and enthusiasm that are necessary to provide the housing industry with its future workforce.”

 The Redrow Learning Web includes a special teachers’ centre with guidance notes to help them plan their lessons. For further details visit www.education.redrow.co.uk. 

Redrow is one of the UK’s leading housebuilders, responsible for approximately 5,000 new homes each year in England, Scotland and Wales. Redrow’s portfolio of homes includes everything from its innovative first time buyer Debut homes to traditional family housing, contemporary city centre apartments, refurbishments of grade II listed properties, and large and luxurious executive homes.