Two Kent Pupils Bag £250 for Class

As they prepare for the end of term, the pupils of 6C at Staplehurst School and Fortune class at Thames View School are celebrating their classmates, Florence Mannell and Penny Bates, who won the JBH Refurbishments Design the Best Classroom Ever competition, bagging their class £250.

Florence Mannell, age 11 of Staplehurst School and Penny Bates, age 7 of Thames View School in Gillingham entered the regional Design the Best Classroom Ever competition, which was divised by interior fit out contractor, JBH Refurbishments to inspire the next generation of architects, interior designers and construction workers.

The JBH Refurbishments team personally delivered the prize money and certificates to Staplehurst School and Thames View School to congratulate the winners and their class.

“Both designs were exceptional and the high standard of creativity across all the entries made the judging process incredibly difficult,” explains Babs Hubbard, Director of JBH Refurbishments. “However, Florence and Penny were extremely deserving winners and we think they have made some great choices on how to spend the prize money,”

“Florence’s design embraced her passion for reading. It featured a secret library, books that come to life, a giant calculator and a range of tech to aid learning. It demonstrated her ability to think outside the box to develop an entirely new and contemporary classroom concept.”

When asked how she came up with the design, Florence said, “I was watching a programme that had a small door in a tree and when you went through it, you entered a large library with books that came to life. I love reading and this magical library gave me the inspiration for my classroom design."

“My sister, Matilda who is 7 came up with the idea for the giant calculator. I asked her if I could use it and she said, “yeah sure”. I really enjoyed thinking about how I would want my classroom to look and it took me two days to plan and draw it.”

Florence, who is in Year 6 will leave Staplehurst this month for High Weald Academy but intends to use the prize money to leave her legacy at Staplehurst School. The £250 will be spent on her favourite books for her fellow students, which will feature a ‘Florence Recommends’ stamp and will be available in a special section of the school library.

Penny Bate’s, who is in Year 2 at Thames View School in Gillingham designed a Monopoly board inspired classroom, which impressed the judges for its originality.

“Penny’s design was truly unique and offered an alternative approach to the school day structure. Using the iconic Monopoly board design, the square desks were arranged to create the shape of the game. Each table acts as a place on the board and provides a different task, such as reading, baking, art and fun maths. In the middle of the tables is a giant die that pupils roll to determine which activity they do next,” explains Hubbard.

When asked about her design, Penny said, “I love playing Monopoly, it is one of my favourite board games and I really liked the idea of bringing the game to life in a classroom.”

With such a love for board games, Penny and her teacher, Mrs Bradshaw intend to spend the money on a selection board games and some dressing-up for Penny’s Year 3 class, ready for when they return in September.

JBH Refurbishments launched ‘Design the Best Classroom Ever’ competition in February. While the competition offered two cash prizes of £250 - for Key Stage 1 and 2 winners - to spend on classroom supplies, the concept also provided an educational opportunity for children to put their creative and methodical skills to the test. As a result, teachers across the South East got involved, using the competition as an art lesson, a computer lesson and even setting it as homework.

“We initiated the competition to get youngsters enthusiastic about construction and design. The construction industry is currently experiencing a distinct lack of skilled trades and we wanted to do our bit to encourage the next generation to consider careers as architects, interior designers and construction workers,” explains Hubbard.

Helping the Directors from JBH Refurbishments with the judging process was Iain McIlwee, CEO of FIS (Finishes Interior Sector), who said, “We have been really encouraged by the high-level of entries for both categories and hope that the competition has sparked a passion in these young people for building and creating. It was extremely hard to narrow down two winners. However, Penny and Florence are very deserving winners.

“We hope that all the entrants will now be inspired to enjoy building and possibly enter the #iBuiltThis2019 competition run by FIS, which is open to all ages and there are some amazing prizes to be won. The winners will be invited to the #iBuiltThis Awards ceremony taking place on the 8 October at UK Construction Week Expo at the NEC in Birmingham, where they will be awarded their prizes by TV personality and renowned architect, George Clarke. We’re delighted that JBH will be an #iBuiltThis Ambassador to the competition.”

Babs Hubbard concludes, “We have thoroughly enjoyed receiving the designs and seeing what is important to children when it comes to their classroom environment. We would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone who got involved in the first JBH competition of this kind. We hope that it was fun and has inspired young people to consider jobs in construction as future careers.”

To find out more about JBH Refurbishments and the Design the Best Classroom Ever competition, please visit the JBH Refurbishments website

Contact Details

Camilla Parsons
Email: camilla@jbhrefurbishments.co.uk