Seaside design Beach brought into school
maisie.lillywhite@reachplc.com
GOING back to school has been even more challenging as teachers, pupils and staff deal with Covid-19 safety measures.
But one school in Tewkesbury really went to town - or should we say, sea - to ensure that their pupils felt safe on their return to school.
Carrant Brook Junior School, in Hardwick Bank Road, totally transformed the community room of the 167 pupil strong school into a ‘beach themed nurture room.’
The room is complete with an astonishing mural, a traditional beach hut and other seaside-centred decor.
Before, although it was a homely place for students to come and relax, the community room was quite bare, according to family support worker Anna Carey, who works at the school.
“Myself and the SENCO are in what’s called the community room, and it used to just have our office desks in it and a sofa in the back that wasn’t really used.” Anna said.
“In May-june time when everything was going on, we thought it might be nice to create an area that’s a place they can come and relax.
“Then the ball started rolling from there - we thought about a jungle theme, but [we decided] a beach theme would be good because children associate beaches with happy times, relaxing and being away from the norm.”
The purpose of the beautifully-decorated beach room is to settle any nerves the children may have when coming back to school.
Anna enlisted her dad, Bob, who is keen on carpentry as a hobby, to help build the nuture space, and put out a plea on her personal Facebook account for an artist.
“We wanted it to be a community thing.” Anna said. “Anne Bate-williams - who is the artist who did the mural - is a friend of the family.
“The background is off a picture she’d already painted.
“[We had] contributions from other friends and family as well so we could get as much as we could on a low budget.”
The main bulk of the work was done during the summer holidays, with the caretaker having to come on site to open the school up.
Anna, whose role is providing pastoral support to children and families, said that the children’s first words after returning back to school almost two weeks ago were: “It’s cool!”
“They loved the idea.” Anna said.
“Especially as I bought a bluetooth speaker and lights and shells so it was really something special.” Despite all the changes the children have had to adapt to, Anna has said that they are ‘positive and happy.’ “Some of them might have been a little worried coming back in after so long off and getting into routines and leaving parents.” Anna said. “But I’m so proud of how resilient they are - they’re very positive and happy to get on with learning and seeing their friends again.”
But the school didn’t stop at the beach-themed nurture space to ensure a safe and happy return to the ‘new normal’ for the pupils.
The staff have also been working tirelessly with other projects to make sure the school environment is a positive one.
“We’ve also created a wildlife area with the same idea.
“The head and the deputy head have done a lot of the man power behind it, with a pond and a bench and a picnic table just to allow kids to come out and enjoy themselves.
“Then we’ve got little hearts with messages of hope and positivity on the school grounds near the main entrance to show that we’re all working together and are one family.”