Pupils at St Nicholas Junior School in Beverley have launched themselves into the โA Moth for Amyโ project by designing and creating more than 300 mini moths in a unique twist on the Amy Johnson Festival.
Inspired by their involvement in the A Moth for Amy public art project – which saw pupils from the Beverley school decorate one of two giant moths sponsored by regeneration company Wykeland Group – teachers at St Nicholas decided to go one step, or should we say wing, further by rolling out the project to all students at the school.
Modelled on Hullโs highly successful โLarkin with Toadsโ project, A Moth for Amy is a mass engagement public art initiative which aims to erect artist-decorated moths at sites across Hull and East Yorkshire, and at other relevant locations across the UK.
The moths, designed by local sculptor Saffron Waghorn, will form part of a trail of more than 50 moths across Hull during the Amy Johnson Festival and leading into 2017, Hullโs year as UK City of Culture.
Pupils from St Nicholas School and All Saints School in Hessle were invited to take part in the A Moth for Amy project by Wykeland, who commissioned the students to come up with unique and creative ideas to decorate two of the 1.5 metre-wide moths which will form part of the moth trail
Wykeland will give pride of place to the moths at its Flemingate development in Beverley and on the Bridgehead woodland trail, at Wykelandโs fast-growing Bridgehead business park situated close to the Humber Bridge roundabout, with both sites forming part of the moth trail.
Rebecca Raisin, class teacher at St Nicholas School, said: โOur pupils were incredibly inspired and excited when Wykeland invited us to design and decorate one of their moths.
โAlthough only a small group of children worked on the giant moth initially, we made sure the whole school was involved by having Amy Johnson-themed lessons and activities, and we found that the project really sparked everyoneโs interest, regardless of age.
โThe pupils were so enthusiastic we decided to ask each of our students to design and create their own mini moths as part of the exhibit.โ
More than 300 pupils at the Beverley primary school each designed and created a mini moth using a variety of different materials such as fabric, paper, cardboard and silk.
The mini moths will go on display at Wykelandโs Flemingate development in Beverley from July 1 and will be seen by thousands of people following the moth trail.
Dominic Gibbons, Wykelandโs Managing Director, said: โOur intention in supporting the Amy Johnson Festival has always been to ensure that our contribution has a significant community impact.
โThatโs why we have asked St Nicholas and All Saints schools to design and decorate the moths we have sponsored.
โItโs brilliant that St Nicholas School has taken this even further and created hundreds of mini moths which will have pride of place at our Flemingate centre.โ
Elaine Burke, Wykelandโs arts consultant, said: โWeโre excited to continue our long relationship with pupils and teachers from St Nicholas Schoolโ
โThis project builds on previous innovative work we have done together at the Flemingate centre. St Nicholas childrenย decorated the hoardingsย aroundย the building site while Flemingate was being built – and they visited the site several times duringย constructionย –ย so they have been with us every stepย ofย the way.
โThis time, weโreย delighted toย be involved with theย A Moth for Amy projectย and to play our part in theย Amy Johnson Festival. It is so exciting that every child at St Nicholas has taken part in the project – either painting the big moth sculpture, orย creatingย their very ownย micro moth to celebrate Amy.
โWykeland is proud that these projects make such an impact on the children involved –ย inspiringย pupils to aim high and feel excited about theirย achievements;ย increasing their confidence; and enhancingย creativityย andย problem-solvingย skills.โ
The 16-acre Flemingate development โ Beverleyโs largest-ever regeneration project โ is a ยฃ120m scheme by Wykeland. In addition to the shopping centre, it is also home to the East Riding College campus, an 80-bed Premier Inn hotel and six-screen, 1,000-seat digital cinema, Parkway, as well as 130 high-quality homes.
