Welwyn Garden City school artists’ London pride

IN a summer during which the eyes of the world have been on London, a group of primary school artists in Welwyn Garden City took a closer look than most.

And they did so with such flair that images by them of their capital city have been celebrated by experts at the Royal College of Art – and thousands of visitors to the college.

Talented artists from Applecroft School in WGC saw their sketches of the capital’s icons exhibited in the west London college’s exhibition, My London.

Their images of, among other things, the River Thames, Tower Bridge, phone boxes and buses were picked from 6,000 pictures sent in by schools across the UK for the exhibition in aid of Cancer Research.

The 11 Applecroft artists whose work went on show were 10-year olds Lewis Snow, Jessica Crout and Marina Kleopa from Year 6, and nine-year olds Sarah Thomson and Ganga Jayamohan from Year 5.

Representing Year 4 was Jasmine Duru, aged eight; and from Year 3, Eva McDonald, seven, was selected.

Others who had work on show were four-year-old reception class pupils Edward Dickinson, Keris Phillips and Edie Keenan, and Year 1’s Zoe Bruton, five.

Ellen Tuck, arts subject leader at Applecroft, said: “We’re so proud of the children.

“Our work in art at Applecroft is an important way for pupils to express themselves, so we’re pleased their expressions of London in Diamond Jubilee year and for the 2012 Olympics have won recognition.

“They worked hard for it and deserve their success.”

* The Applecroft Road school has been awarded the Arts Council’s highest Artsmark Gold award.

The scheme is the Council’s flagship programme aimed at developing and celebrating quality arts education.