10-year-old boy wins South Tyneside design competition for his solar panel homeless shelter

A 10-year-old boy from South Shields has won a design competition for his solar panel heated homeless shelter.

Jack Moss, a Year 5 pupil at SS Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School, was one of the winners in the ‘Powering the Future: South Tyneside and Beyond!’ competition which encouraged Year 4 and 5 pupils to take on an invention challenge incorporating renewable energy and architecture.

His invention was one of four picked out of 167 ideas to have a prototype made.

“My invention, Sleep and H20 2000, is a solar panel heated homeless shelter,” said Jack. “The shelter uses sun energy to create heat for homeless people to sleep in. The shelter has a drinking water fountain that is made from filtered rainwater.”

South Tyneside Council and Dogger Bank Wind Farm teamed up with Little Investors to launch the competition, focusing on the role and uses of renewable energy and encouraged children to expand their STEM skills.

Jack was thrilled to meet the architects to see the prototype of his design for the first time.

“It is a good feeling to have won the competition,” said Jack. “I loved going to the architect’s office, and I loved seeing my design.”

Rachael Purvis, Jack’s class teacher, said: “Our Year 5 children really enjoyed the Little Inventors challenge and we were thrilled that Jack’s design was chosen to be made into a prototype.

“His design incorporated our learning from geography as well as design technology and I cannot wait to visit the exhibition to see his hard work come to life.”

The work will be showcased at an exhibition at The Word, South Tyneside’s state-of-the-art cultural venue, in July.