The Civic Hall was full of impressive photography, paper sculptures and other artwork on Wednesday 20th July thanks the creative efforts of the Sunnydale Campus students at Greenfield Community College.
The Town Council and Sunnydale Campus teamed up to give Year 11 pupils the opportunity to publicly showcase their GCSE artwork before it is sent off to examiners to be marked.
The talent was notable with Kath Regan from the Town Council commenting: “I’d be hard pressed to distinguish this from adult work!”
The Town Council and Sunnydale Campus partnership has been involved in bringing together pupils from local primary and secondary schools and the day was also about creatively nurturing the younger students, who showcased their origami-style flower gardens, before participating in 45-minute creative poetry sessions inspired by the gardens.
Laura Peaker, Head of Art at Greenfield Community College, who was present on the day, said: “The idea of the gardens originated in the paper sculptures and origami designs my Year 11 students made a while ago.
“We then decided to take the ‘unfolding’ theme a step further by unfolding the creativity of the younger students in a writing workshop inspired by the designs.”
Mayor of Shildon, Cllr Trish Pemberton, who was also present, said: “As governor of both Timothy Hackworth and St John’s, I am very proud of the students’ work.”
The collaborative art project was not just about displaying the local young talent, it was also an opportunity to prepare primary school students for the next academic stage.
Kath Regan said: “The artistic collaboration between older and younger pupils and the workshops organised at Greenfield helped the students to intermingle, which will then help the younger students transition to secondary school.
“It will benefit them to be able to recognise a few friendly faces.”
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
