Credit: Lerryn School

2020 will see Lerryn School proudly displaying a new banner, created by pupils and members of Lerryn WI, during a nine-month project.

The finished banner was officially unveiled at the Lerryn School and St Veep Church Christingle and Nativity in December and WI members joined pupils at the school for a Christmas lunch a few days later to mark the end of the project.

Head of School Mathew Blunt said: “This is more than a banner, this is a historical document. It is a beautiful piece of art.”

Credit: Lerryn School

The project included every child in the school from nursery through to year six making mini versions of themselves with the help of the WI team. Mat said: “The ladies came twice a week and involved the pupils in design and planning as well as including all pupils in sewing their own likeness into the material.”

The banner is just one of many plans the school has to connect with its wider community. “The project shows what is possible when you join community together. The final outcome was beyond my wildest dreams. The beauty, detail and overall presentation makes it a work of art and an important historical document on the life of a small village school. The children showed patience and care and loved working with the local community. It was amazing to see their focus.

“I would like to publicly thank the ladies for their hard work and patience, the children looked forward to every session and we saw a new side to pupils. I could not be prouder to have this on display,” added Mat.

The banner will be on show at the school for all to see and will be at all future school linked events.

So successful was the joint project that Mathew has invited the group to start a project in the new year linked to reading and making bookmarks. It has also inspired other links. There is a project involving cooking and cake decoration with the local produce group in the pipeline. “Our school prides itself on making learning real and impactful. The banner project demonstrate what can be done when everyone pulls together. This is one of many plans I have in place for the next ten years or more to link the small but might school with the local community.”