The Epping Road Project team and about 50 Year 7 students built 10 ‘bee hotels’ at the new college to encourage the growth of the bee population in Wollert.
The project team conducted the initiative over two sessions, with about 25 students in each. The college is next door to the main site compound and opened this year, so all students had an opportunity to take part.
Victoria’s seven native bee species comprise reed, blue-banded, teddy bear, leafcutter, resin, homalictus and masked varieties bees. As solitary bees that don’t form colonies or hives, the hotels will provide them with places to rest, nest and breed over the cooler months. Each of the bee species has a preferred type of home, so the hotels were built with varying internal designs.
To promote a circular economy, some of the materials came from the construction site on Epping Road.
The hotels were installed on a grassland area and with north-east aspects to maximise sunlight and pollen production.
The project team donated and planted flowering native plants including banksia and grevillea nearby at the college to further encourage the bees’ populations.
To top if off the students made signs for the bee hotels in art class.
