THE sensory wall at Golden Hours School was completed recently after months of careful construction facilitated by Umcebo Designs. The project, which started in March, saw learners at the school up-cycle plastic waste to create a sensory wall for their school.
The sensory wall will benefit learners who are tactile defensive through the sensory stimulation of the various materials on the wall, which is designed to be touched.
Head of Department of the Senior School, Arul Padayachee said the Grade 4 and 5 learners from the school learnt new skills during the construction process.
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“We are very grateful to Robin for including us in this project. Our learners have learnt so much. We were able to accommodate a lot of children with varied abilities. It was something new and exciting and the children enjoyed it,” she said.
School principal Rowan Hornby said the wall had brought a bit of comfort to learners returning after the lockdown.
“The lockdown has hit us really badly. We have only had 46 per cent of our learners return. As children arrived, the first thing they did was walk past the wall. It’s lovely for them to have something like this,” she said.
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Robbin Opperman, creative director of Umcebo Designs said they had to think outside the box to complete the project.
“We needed to make something that was pretty to look at but also something you could engage with. Not only has it imparted new skills to the learners, but it’s taken us out of our comfort zone and shown us new aspects of creative waste management. Elements that add sparkle can often cut you, so we have set the mirrors into bottle tops so you can still enjoy the sparkle without getting cut,” he said.
Opperman added that the Umcebo Designs team are gearing up to launch a new project in partnership with Global Green Grant.
Umcebo Designs unveiled a range of waste-to-art pieces at the University of KwaZulu-Natal as part of the School of Engineering’s Neptune Project earlier this year.
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