Pupils at Morpeth school create their own playground mural to welcome visitors

The children at St Robert’s Catholic First School have designed and painted their own mural, which represents the school’s ethos in the form of original artwork created from an amalgamation of different designs and was something the school felt would be good for the playground as an upgrade on the old mural that was on its fence.

The project involved four large wooden boards, acrylic paint and yacht varnish, and was completed over a three-week period by Year 4 children working with the assistance of the school’s art lead, Alice Butler.

Headteacher David Sutcliffe said: “We wanted the children to be involved with the mural design and had a competition to gather their ideas.

“It was open to the whole school and we had around 60 entries. There were four winners – one from Reception, one from Year 3 and two from Year 4.

“We wanted the designs to be bright and eye-catching, and to reflect what is important to us in school. The designs we chose all had different elements that when combined created a lovely image.

“Our six ‘bees’ (school core values) are all on the mural – be happy, be respectful, be spiritual, be honest, be kind, be the best you can.

“It also has a lovely church depicted by a reception child, the trees show the seasons, leaves were made using children’s handprints and it includes a rainbow as rainbows were in a lot of the entries.”