Over the last few weeks pupils in Year 5 have been working with members of the Charlbury Beer Festival committee to design and build a solar-powered water heater. This came about because the Beer Festival is funding a project to build a solar-powered water heating system for a children’s home in the middle of Delhi. During a school assembly, members of the Beer Festival Committee explained to all the school children how the Indian orphanage, Karm Marg, was set up fifteen years ago to house children who were found living on a railway station. At the moment the 56 children have to wash in cold water, or to spend what little money they have on electricity to heat the water. Installing a solar water heater will make it much cheaper to run the home and make it more environmentally friendly.
The plumbing system
This objective complements Charlbury Primary’s Eco-School philosophy and, as part of this project, the children have been learning about where hot water comes from and the benefits of solar heating. In addition, on Friday afternoons Year 5 pupils have been building a solar-powered water heater in the school playground using local recycled materials, based on a model they created. The heater has recently been transported to the Cricket Club in time for the Beer Festival, where it will be used to wash glasses.
Solar powered water heater
The hope is that the school will develop further links with the Karm Marg children’s home in the future.
Many thanks to Angus Burnett for the photos
Excellent stuff!