Kettlethorpe High School students showcased their ideas to a panel of judges at Vico Homes this month for a chance to be our wildlife champions 2025 and have their work be part of our Let it Bee relaxed mowing campaign.
The youngsters were invited to our Vico Homes Head Office to showcase their amazing plans in an exciting ‘Dragons’ Den’ style event, to support the campaign which actively promotes natural habitats for wildlife and boosts sustainability across local communities.
The panel, made up of John Pickles, Sustainability Senior Project Officer, Sam Hagan, Communications and Brand Manager and Peter Beaumont, Director of Customer Experience and Inclusion, was treated to four incredible presentations by the year 7 and 8 teams.
Ideas included a sustainable style post box holding leaflets of information which people can collect when visiting the areas and colourful Let it Bee pin badges to sell and raise funds for the campaign. Overall, the plans from the students were fantastic, so much so that the panel found it very challenging to decide.
The winning group were Zuzu Lisowska and Amelia Kahn who wowed the judges with their fantastic ideas. The ideas from all the groups were so good, we plan to take the best from everyone and work with the students over the next year to put them into action.
Sam loved the ideas the student showcased. “We (the panel) were seriously impressed by the presentations by all of the students, each and every one had different ideas, and you could clearly see how much effort they had put in to showcase them to us, hitting the brief and being full of facts and information. The confidence they all brought too was nothing short of amazing. Well done to them all.”
Ethan Tindale, from Kettlethorpe High School said: "Thank you to Vico Homes for kindly arranging a Dragons' Den-style panel for our students. It was a valuable opportunity for them to share their ideas in a professional setting. The students presented with confidence and spoke clearly about their projects — we’re really proud of the way they conducted themselves. We are all looking forward to working with Vico Homes to make these fantastic ideas a reality"
Lindsey Hanson, PR and Communications Officer visited the students in school in the months leading up to the presentation to support them with their plans and ideas. Lindsey said: “We have loved getting involved with the young people, working with them in school to develop their ideas and learn about nature and why it’s so important. And I’m really impressed with the ideas that the groups were putting together. A big part of this campaign is to get the positive message out there of the importance of why we are letting wild grass grow and I think we may have some ‘budding’ future communications stars in the making.”
John Pickles added: “This is such a great project for young people to be involved in, the benefits of having wild grass areas for sustainability and building natural habitats for wildlife are plenty. Managing our greenspaces differently, such as mowing less and leaving space for nature can help wildlife recover from developments and pollution. Exciting, fresh and fun actions and plans like the ones the students are doing mean that future generations can enjoy seeing greenspaces and wildlife thrive.”
The full Let it Bee ‘Dragons' Den’ episode will be broadcast in September. Keep an eye out!