Wooden sculptures created to inspire Pewsham pupils
4:00pm Saturday 2nd March 2013 in Latest News
Chainsaw artist Andy Barton with King’s Lodge Community School pupils Amelia, Ellery, Ayesha, Paul, Adam, Chloe, Orlando and Abbie
Chainsaw artist Andy Barton visited King’s Lodge Community School in Pewsham to carve a wooden sculpture designed by pupils.
Pupils watched Mr Barton at work and saw their ideas take shape on February 19.
The sculpture, which took five hours to make, will be one of four wood carvings made by the Northumbrian artist to commemorate the Olympics.
Four designs were originally created by pupils during last year’s Olympic summer, being inspired by the game’s ‘Stronger, Faster, Higher’ slogan.
The work was funded by Chippenham Boroughlands and the sculptures will be placed outside the school, next to the playground, as part of an ongoing project to develop the school grounds.
King’s Lodge sits on the original site of King Alfred’s hunting lodge in Pewsham Forest and last year a copse of 40 trees was planted to commemorate this.
The school has just under 400 pupils and each one belongs to one of four houses, named Goldney, Colbourne, Hawkins and Bradbury after important historical Chippenham families.
During the Olympics, children were asked to design their own logos and slogans for each of the four houses, and the slogans ‘be a champion’, ‘be confident’, ‘be a team player’ and ‘be a legend’ were chosen.
They also took part in the Chippenham Olympics event at Stanley Park, where they competed in a number of different sports alongside other primary school children.
Deputy headteacher Peter Shewring said the slogans and the names of houses were set at the bottom of the wood carvings to encourage pupils to adopt an Olympic attitude.
He said: “On sports day the children compete as a house – we have a house points system across the school – and we try to have house learning days.
“We have got the names of the houses on of the statues, which will hopefully increase that pride in the house team they belong to. I think we have certainly taken the idea of the Olympic values and applied it.”
Headteacher Lynn Evans said: “The end results will be displayed around the school grounds for all to see. None of this project would have been possible without the generosity of Chippenham Boroughlands, who have enabled such an exciting opportunity to take place.”
