Northamptonshire primary school unveils new mural that has ‘completely transformed’ ‘grotty’ playground wall

Kerry says the finished mural is 'breathtaking'.

A Northamptonshire primary school has unveiled a new mural in its playground, which has ‘completely transformed’ a ‘grotty’ playground wall.

Staff at Gayton Primary School came up with the idea to ask pupils to submit drawings of what is important to them at school, which could then be made into a Van Gough inspired mural to ‘spruce up’ a playground wall.

The school then enlisted the help of local artist Sarah Hodgkins from Charlotte Designs to bring the children’s ideas to life.

The mural includes a painting of the school.

Kerry Fulford, teacher at the school and lead on the mural project, said: “The wall in the playground was grotty looking so we wanted to get an artist in to spruce it up and make it look beautiful.

“We booked the artist a while ago, but she hasn’t been able to come in because of the lockdowns.

“This has been two years in the making.”

After working with staff to design the mural, Sarah was finally able to start work on the mural last week to create the art, which includes paintings of the village church, the pocket park and two kites that regularly fly over the school.

Local artist, Sarah Hodgkins, working on the mural as pupils watch on.

In just three days, the mural came to life as the children watched on. They even had assemblies in the playground as Sarah worked.

Kerry added: “The children loved watching Sarah work and asking her questions.

“Sarah was brilliant with the children and got them involved with the work. It was brilliant for them to see an artist in action and they got some much out of it.

“The mural itself looks beautiful and it has completely transformed the playground.

“Looking out from the classrooms, you can see it and it’s breathtaking really

“The wall looked pretty dismal, but now the mural will be there for years to come for the children there now and also children coming into the school in the future.

“The whole school community will benefit from it and it was a great way to spend our last week together this school year."

The ‘Friends of Gayton’ group funded the mural project, which Kerry says was a good way for funds raised by the group to be put back into the school.