BELHAM BEES
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Thanks to funding from Friends of Belham and private sponsor Veritas Investment, we have been able to commission The Good Bee Company London to set up two bee colonies on the roof of our school! *
The bees arrived in June 2021 which was just in time for them to get to work, and for us to harvest honey (ethically) by the end of the year. Pupils will be involved at all stages of honey production and have already taken part in workshops with our beekeepers, even helping to extract the honey from our hives! Different year groups will be involved with different parts of the production process which will form part of their DT, Science, Art or English units of work - see below for curriculum links. * The location of the hives has been fully risk assessed to ensure that students and staff are under no additional risk of being stung. |
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BELHAM HONEY
Decisions on what we do with the honey extracted from the Belham hives will be child-led. We look forward to hearing our pupils' ideas for marketing and selling the honey.
Check back for details!
Check back for details!
HIVE INSPECTION
Our first hive inspection took place in July - we were pleased to discover our bees were healthy and multiplying:
EXTRACTING THE HONEY
By September, the honey was ready to extract! Year 3 and Year 5 pupils were very excited to assist our ethical beekeeper Jean.
First a comb is used to remove the wax caps from the frames. The frames are then put in an extractor which uses centrifugal force to separate the honey from the frame.
First a comb is used to remove the wax caps from the frames. The frames are then put in an extractor which uses centrifugal force to separate the honey from the frame.
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Spinning the extractor is hard work...
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Here comes the honey!
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CURRICULUM LINKS
Some examples of the projects pupils have been working on:
DT
DT
- Year 3 designed honey jar labels
- Year 3 and Year 5 learned how to remove honey from the combs
- Year 6 looked at making products from honey and other byproducts
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Science
- Reception and Year 1 created posters and displays about the habitats of bees
- Year 2 ordered the life cycle of a bee
- Year 3 described the process of pollination
- Year 4 created a film about the food chains that include honey bees
- Year 5 looked at the role of bees in the life cycle of plants
- Year 6 created classification keys of different species of bees
Pupils will also be creating work linked to bees as part of their Art and English curriculums.