Bury pupils work with sculptor to create special project design

The pupils from Bury CE Primary School have been putting their recent John Muir award knowledge to good use, as they have worked alongside sculptor Graeme Mitcheson.

Thomas Moore, headteacher at Bury CE Primary School, said: “The children got to share their knowledge of local heathlands and gave ideas to Graeme for his large scale project across the South Downs as part of Heathlands Reunited.

“The children were shown images of some of Graeme’s work before working with him creating potential designs for stone carving.

“Then the very exciting part came - Graeme selected six of the children’s designs that he thought could work really well in stone and disappeared outside whilst the children carried on refining and improving their sketches.

“Around 10 minutes later, Graeme reappeared and took a group of children outside where they were presented with a piece of sandstone with their designs sketched out on top.

“Safety goggles adorned, Graeme showed the children how to use the tools and before you knew it the children were creating their own heathland-inspired stone carvings.

“One of the advantages of being a small school is that we were able to ensure all of Key Stage Two (seven to 11 year olds) were able to take part in the work.

“Every single one of them (and some of the staff!) getting to use chisels and hammers to help create six pieces of sculpture which will have pride of place at the front of the school.

“A big thank you to the South Downs National Park education team for making it happen. You can see lots more images of the work on our Twitter feed @BuryCEPrimary, or better still – come and see them for yourselves by booking an appointment with Mrs Clark in the office 01798 831502.