Dalton Schoolchildren use art for a Better Way to School lesson

Pupils at St Mary's Primary are taking part in unique arts project as part of barrow's Better Ways to School initiative. 

The pupils will be working with renowned artist Maddi Nicolson today and tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday, February 11th and 12th, producing a couple of two and a half metre square banners, using their own designs, to get the road safety message across. Maddi will be holding workshops with the children in which they will be painting designs, which they produced at an earlier workshop, of traffic and other road safety images, onto the huge banners. 

St Mary's is one of four schools in Dalton involved in the project. George Romney Junior, Dowdales and Chapel Street Infants are also taking part and producing banners. The workshops will culminate in a walk to school event later in the year and also an exhibition of the banners and associated paintings at the Art Gene Gallery in the Nan Tait Centre, Barrow, from March 31st to April 11th. 

Funding for the project came from Barrow Local Committee, through its Better Ways to School initiative. Local County Councillor Bill Smith said:   

"This is a really different and fun way of getting the road safety message across to children. It targets children from primary right through to secondary age to think about safety and how they travel to school. The pupils involved are using their own thoughts about road safety and using that to create a work of art, which will be hung in their schools. As well as being decorative, these banners will be used by staff as a teaching tool to get the important road safety message across. Our Better Ways to School initiative is improving the journey to school for children and their parents and the more schools take part in this, the better." 

This arts project is part of the travel plans being developed by the schools in Dalton and all over the county as part of Better Ways to School. These plans aim to encourage better use of the more sustainable types of transport and recommend measures to improve safety on the school journey.