Grade 2 students from St Peter’s Primary School in Bentleigh East, Victoria, have visited LEGOLAND Discovery Centre for the unveiling of a LEGO replica of their school, which was won as part of a recent competition.
8-year-old student Jake Baratta received the exclusive opportunity to have his school built from LEGO after winning the centre’s school design competition with his colourful 3D model made from cardboard, icy pole sticks, pipe cleaners and polystyrene.
Jake and 80 of his classmates had a sneak peek of the LEGO model of the school before it is publicly showcased at LEGOLAND Discovery Centre.
“I was excited to win the competition and was very happy to see my model of St Peter’s constructed out of LEGO because I am a huge LEGO fan. It was really special to share this prize with my great school and with all my grade 2 friends and teachers. I am so thankful to David Holder, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre’s Master Builder, for building such an awesome model and for this whole LEGO adventure,” said Jake.
According to David Holder, LEGOLAND Discovery Centre’s Master Builder, “Our school design competition challenged school students to develop an interpretive design of their school in any medium such as drawing, painting, model, sculpture or digital design. I was looking for a combination of creativity, artistic interpretation and how much effort was put into the entry – Jake’s submissions had high levels of all of these.
“The construction of the LEGO replica of St Peter’s Primary School took five hours to design, 25 hours to construct and is made up of 5600 LEGO bricks. It will be displayed in our retail store temporarily before we hand it over to the school for permanent ownership.”
Following the unveiling, Jake and his classmates took part in interactive school workshops run by the centre’s Master Builders. LEGOLAND Discovery Centre offers a hands-on school excursion program that aims to reinforce concepts in science, mathematics, language and arts while building collaboration, creativity and problem-solving skills.