St Mary's Cof E VA School, Mildenhall, Suffolk

Year 3 and Year 4 children helped create this simple yet stunning piece of work for the entrance hall of the school, bringing together Ever Child Matters (ECM) with St Mary's church school ethos.

All Saints C of E VA Primary School, Newmarket, Suffolk

"The front doors at All Saints show the beauty of God's creation with butterflies, flowers and sunshine. The centre of the display is a rainbow reminding us and everyone who enters our school of God's unending love and promises. The doors were made as a result of discussions between children, staff and governors. They were put up by a parent from the school at the time and have been part of the school entrance for many years."

The full length image has been flipped in order to show the design better.

Wisbech St Mary C of E VA Primary School, Cambridgeshire

This window is the culmination of a Vital Communities project that was based at Wisbech St. Mary Primary School.  The work started with  a trip to Ely Cathedral and Ely stained glass museum.  Subsequently, Vital Communities artists, John Wiltshire and Gillian McClure, came to work with pupils towards making a window for the school.  It was also an aim that the window would tell a story.    The story was shaped by several influences.  A major contribution was taken from accounts of the Fenland flood in the 1947.  The pupils also wanted to include an encouraging message within the tale, plus add their own creativity and imagination.  With the help of the Vital Communities artists , these different elements were weaved together to produce what is now a prominent feature in the school hall. In short, the story tells how animals worked together, despite their differences, to get through a difficult situation.  This message of working together is surely one that applies to us all. 

Thomas Bullock CofE VA Primary School in Shipdam, near Dereham, Norfolk,

have recently completed their 25th anniversary garden.  It is functional, in that it grows vegetables, but has also been designed to provide a quiet refuge for pupils during the school day.

St Michael's High School, Bowthorpe, Norwich

Often schools are able to have professional artwork done in their buildings or outside areas.  Some schools have jungles or brightly coloured fish, others may have scenes from the locality - here at St Michael's, local artist Mik Richardson has painted 5 murals representing saints - can you work out which saint this is?  Clue: look at the shape of the cross!  

Little Plumstead C of E School, Norfolk

Several schools now have their own quiet garden, a place where pupils can go to be quiet, to reflect and to enjoy some time out.  They take many forms - this well developed garden, which is actually in quite a confined space, almost looks like a desert island!

Cheveley C of E School, Cambridgeshire

The school has a permanent display of the church’s year in the entrance hall, next to the entrance to the assembly hall.  The creation of the display followed on form work in classrooms about Christian symbolism.

The headteacher wanted something in the entrance to make the church school status obvious to parents, visitors and staff, and also be part of the development of the children’s understanding, and for the staff.  The design was discussed with the incumbent and staff.   A parent did the carving in natural wood.   

The main liturgical colours of the year are round the circle so that the children can see how these change according to the season.  There was consideration about some of the minor alterations here, but it was felt that it would make it too complicated and could spoil the effect. The pointer moves round the year to indicate which season the Church is currently in.

This display is linked with another in the hall for collective worship, and the coloured material which surrounds the circle is the same as that used on the table which holds the focal point during collective worship.  The “Rev'd Polar Bear” is also used in collective worship dressed in appropriately coloured vestments as one of the visual aids for the children. 

The next phase is planned to be the inclusion of illustrations of the times of the year using pupils’ work surrounding the display.

Bury C of E School, Cambridgeshire

Bury school has been fortunate enough to be able to work with a local artist, Derek Massey.  As a result they have a triptych of the Creation in their hall which was the result of the artist working with the children in celebration of the school’s remodelling in 2004. 

St Martin at Shouldham C of E School, Shouldham, Norfolk

Here at Shouldham there is a display board in the corridor at which pupils (and staff) can pause for a moment of reflection.  All that is needed is a simple message and an eye-catching display... and a few moments of peace and tranquility.

Abbots Ripton C of E School, Cambridgeshire

Schools in East Anglia are beginning to discover the "Jumping Fish" materials from Gloucester Diocese  - here Abbots Ripton School is experimenting with their simple but brilliant idea of creating an interactive display using a chair and a few props.  The chair is situated in a busy corridor opposite the entrance to the hall.  Children stop to read the messages, handle the display, and add their own commentary in the form of post-it notes or similar.  The display can be changed regularly to maintain interest.  The headteacher reports "accidently overhearing" many interesting conversations as the children interact with the materials.  This is a simple device which can be used to support almost any theme.