THE KILGARTH TREE PROJECT

The collection of quotes which were unveiled  in art form at Kilgarth for the first time last academic year further inspired Mr Baker to initiate what was known at the time as the ‘Tree Project.’  Our tree was completed over the Summer holidays and we would like to share its story with our website visitors.

The aim of the Tree Project was to create a reference point that could communicate Kilgarth’s Mission Statement and Core Values in a visual form for pupils and visitors.  It was envisaged as a way of showing how the school’s mission statement ‘Always Growing, Always Learning’ is built into the foundations (or roots) of the school and how the tree then grows and evolves into the core values and school ethos.

“Always growing, always learning”

The design evolved through discussion with staff and pupils and was developed over several weeks. The initial drawing of the tree took place in the school gym on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

The team of artists was led by our modest but very talented Ms Sissons, Product Design teacher at Kilgarth. Nine MDF boards were set out to make a rectangle 24 foot long by 10 foot tall and the design was scaled up and set out onto the area.

The next day each section of tree – branch, root, etc was cut out and labelled. The whole design was then transferred to the workshop to be base painted. This process took a whole week, with involvement from students, before the final top colours were added. The lettering was created using a vinyl, applied over the top of the painted surfaces, before several coats of varnish were finally added.

The whole tree mural had been accurately designed so it would fit exactly onto the wall space in the corridor like a board puzzle, except that the centre was positioned first rather than the corner pieces! It took a day to put the work up with 4 members of staff and a nail gun.

All the words on the branches were chosen by staff/pupils as key elements from the mission statement, which was drafted during stakeholder days held last academic year. The ‘Tree’ (24 foot long by 10 foot tall!) needs to be seen in reality to show its full splendour but, in order to convey our message to website visitors, here  is an electronic version which we refer to as our Pupil-Friendly Mission Statement.

The project was a collaboration between the pupils and staff at Kilgarth School as well as the School of Art and Design at Birkenhead Sixth Form College, which provided invaluable support.

Thank you to Ms Sissons for providing (as well as her creative input) all the technical details for this blog, which provide an insight into the amount of creative work that goes on behind the scenes.