Sophie Conlon
WITH the help of a former student, the children at Kalangadoo Primary School have been working together to brighten their school.
Artist Wendy Dixon-Whiley, a former Kalangadoo resident who attended the school in the 80s, said she visited the campus on a trip home recently and was inspired to bring a bit more life to the campus.
“I travelled here last Christmas and had a bit of a poke around the school when it was closed and I thought ‘It needs some sort of public art mural,’ so I picked up the phone and spoke to Allison,” she said.
Ms Dixon-Whiley said she had worked with all 18 students to bring the mural to life.
“The students have created their own individual Mindful Monsters, so they all have a little mindful statement talking about how they choose to do that,” she said.
“They are all really different, and without knowing the students all that well, it seems to reflect their personalities as well
“It’s always so great working with kids because they are always just so creative, society hasn’t pushed it out of them yet… it’s like an innate creativity that slips away when people get older.”
Governing Council chair Naomi Denniss-Holmes said it was great to see the students making a mark on their school.
“The kids got really really involved with it and I think they’ve been pleasantly surprised too with the level of involvement they have been able to have,” she said.
“They engage well with Wendy and her style of work.”
Year five student Charlotte said she would like to be an artist or a tattooist when she grows up and she had a great time creating her Mindful Monster.
“Mine has four of my personalities on it, my crazy side, my silly side, my happy side and my mischievous side, I call it the Four Headed Wonder,” she said.
When she was creating her Mindful Monster Charlotte said she was feeling her happy side.
“My happy side is a yellow bean shape looking thing with two big eyes and a big smile,” she said.
In the artwork the Four Headed Wonder is drawn saying ‘I like watching butterflies’ as Charlotte said that was one of her favourite mindful activities.
“I watch them flap their wings and fly around and land and suck the juice from the flowers,” she said.
The mural will be about 14 meters wide and two meters high, with each student’s Mindful Monster included in the work.
Ms Dixon-Whiley said she hoped the space could be a place where students could take a moment for themselves and practice mindful exercises.
Kalangadoo teacher Lauren Manser said including the students in the creation of the mural tied into the health curriculum and it was putting a different spin on their learning.
“We have a big focus on wellbeing at our school so we do work with the zones of regulation, and the Berry Street Model we follow… which is all about mindfulness, wellbeing, understanding your emotions and the tools you can use to keep yourself regulated and engage with the curriculum fully,” she said.
Ms Denniss-Holmes said it was great the small school could have this opportunity.
“Allison discussed it with the governing council and everyone got super excited about it, it just not something that we thought would happen for us,” she said.
“Small schools have less opportunities in general, and for someone from somewhere else to come and take and interest and engage with students and offer them something lasting that will come out of it that they can be involved in- I think is a big deal for them.”
She also said it was great to be adding a bit more colour to the school and everyone was looking forward to seeing it finished.
