We popped over to visit the teachers and pupils at Holystone Primary School to see how their ‘little herd’ were getting on painting their very own Elmer.
Helen Moore, former Deputy Head, has been overseeing the whole creative process at Holystone and although she has now moved on to a new school, she wanted to be a part of the design unveiling for all the children and parents.
“When I heard about the Elmer trail and the opportunity for schools to decorate their own sculpture we signed up straight away. Although the school didn’t decorate a Snowdog, many of the pupils followed the trail. The children adored it and for us, it was lovely seeing the kids get outdoors, visiting new places and just seeing more of the north east – all for free too! So we were excited to join in when we heard St Oswald’s were following it up with an Elmer trail!
“I’ve enjoyed the whole process and I know the children have too. We started just before Christmas by selling beanies and doing a raffle and raised £400 for St Oswald’s! We even started a newspaper called Elmer’s Press, to update the children on the progress and all the fun fundraising idea’s we had too.
“Our main aim was to get the whole school involved, it can be difficult with all the different age ranges but we made it work. Before we started the painting we gave every child an Elmer template and got them to put all of their ideas down. The school tried to use as many ideas as possible and I think we did well.
“As a school we have four main characters, a lady bird, spider, cricket and a bee. These all represent our characteristics as a school and many of the children wanted these on the design somewhere. We also asked for name suggestions and the winner was ‘Pebble’. It represents our logo and is also gender neutral, meaning the children can give it any identity they want too.”
“I love the whole school has been involved, every child has a finger print on and I think that’s so important. I feel it has related well to the themes and morals of Elmer too, inclusivity, diversity and friendship. I love the fact the children will get out around the north east getting to visit all the sculptures. I’m probably more excited than them!”
