Old Palace Primary School, London
Perspex Safety Stairwell Mural
View up the finished stairwell
Bird detail on finished stairwell
The Headteacher needed to have the perspex barrier put up for safety and it was going to look very bleak. The manufacturers suggested she have stock cartoon images put onto the perspex, which would have been very impersonal. Instead she asked Artyface to work on the project, which would allow the pupils to have input into their school environment.
The pupils enjoyed the opportunity to work with an artist and to be creative. They drew colourful British animals and plants in special extra-curricular classes. Pupils were queuing up to work during playtimes and lunchtimes! The finished piece looks beautiful, almost like stained glass and it is huge! The children's artistic enthusiasm and talents sing out. The Headteacher's decision to bring Artyface in to work in the school has resulted in what could have been an eyesore becoming positive feature: now the school has an enormous unique mural, full of pupils' drawings and it is a real addition to the character of the school.
The artist organized the pupils' drawings into a calendar sequence with a poem that teaches children the number of days in each calendar month. We then collaged all the pupils images into a landscape scene on a computer programme, with expert help from local designer John Wallet of IDZ. Maud spent weeks getting the design just right, and now it is finished it stretches 20 metres along the top of the schools stairs, making every trip up and down the stairwell an opportunity to find something new!
The permanent safety feature has been made into a beautiful mural as well as a learning tool for pupils to enjoy for years to come: there are mini-beast sums for the children to find and work out; there are plants and animals at the correct times of the year; there are the number of days in each month to learn; there are onomatopoeic words to learn... all in all there is something to please everyone and the children are very proud of their work.

Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November,
All the rest have thirty one,
Except for February alone,
Which has but twenty eight days clear,
And twenty nine each leap year.