STUDENTS from Nova Hreod Academy have become the first to take pride of place on the wall of Justin Tomlinson’s new community office.

The North Swindon MP moved into the open plan space in the Orbital Retail Park last month and invited the students to submit artwork for a wall exploring the concept of democracy.

Taking inspiration from artists including Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Emma Gayle, they produced a range of pieces of varying styles with a focus on the iconic imagery of cities.

After praising the students for their efforts, Justin said: “I’m really excited about having a community office.

“On our recent visit to Nova Hreod we saw examples of their fantastic creative artwork so we asked the Head if his students could be the first to display creative work in our office to signify democracy - I’m absolutely thrilled with what they’ve come up with.

“The board space will rotate between schools and community groups to show what they think of parliament.”

Rachel Worthington, who teaches art at Nova Hreod, said: “This is a landmark project - looking at big cities known for democracy and also at inner cities which are represented by the more 3D art where things are more on top of each other.

“The students were shown examples but then all the colour choices and the number of layers of relief was entirely driven by themselves.”

With the high standard set by Nova Hreod, it is now hoped that schools from across the local area can take turns in producing work to be featured in the new office of their local MP.

Justin added: “The new office has been brilliant, we’ve got groups doing fundraising coffee mornings, others holding meetings, we’re very lucky to have this kind of space.”

As well as having a community art gallery on the wall, Justin’s office now has its own twitter account allowing residents who might not want to follow the MP himself to hear about upcoming events and meetings.

You can follow the office at www.twitter.com/OfficeJTMP