Hand-Carved Stone Woodland Creatures unveiled at St Michael's Junior School in Collaboration with Bath College
In the long-awaited unveiling, five Bath College students presented their work to the PLT (Peer Leadership Team) at St Michael's Junior School.
The project, which started back in January 2022, saw Bath College Stone Carving students Carolyn Trippick, Adrian Iles, Jennie Regan, Kate Cumberlidge and Ola Kruk, carve fantastic woodland creatures for display around the grounds of St Michael's. The carvings were inspired by clay models made by the students of their favourite woodland creatures, and then scaled up and carved from the natural Bath Limestone quarried from Limpley Stoke. Throughout the carving process the students from Bath College showed their progress to the pupils at St Michael's, allowing them to see the process from start to finish, learn more about stone carving and masonry, as well as have a go at stone carving themselves by carving their initials on to stone slabs.
Each carving has been placed in a key area of the school, for all pupils to utilise and enjoy. Adrian’s Fox has been given pride of place outside the main school entrance, whilst Kate’s Owl will be used by year 3 in the space outside their classroom for storytelling and learning.
The Bath College students are currently studying on one of the Adult Community Learning programmes, led by tutor Charles Goodsman. The students have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of a community-based project, with Carolyn Trippick stating:
“We’ve created some great memories together, and made a lasting impact on the school too, which is what Community Learning is all about. Our tutor Charles has been the driving force behind making this happen, so a massive thank you needs to go to him for his time and effort in making this project a success”.
Mark Durrant, Year 3-4 Phase Lead and English Lead at St Michael's has been heavily involved with the project on the school side, watching the process from clay model to installed stone, and has been inspired by what he has seen.
“The Stonemason project has been a fantastic way of engaging our children in practical and vocational work, to raise their wider aspirations and expose them to the variety of careers available in the future. It has been invaluable for them to begin, and consistently contribute to, a project which results in such a powerful end product; their ideas through to designs, models and finally sculptures have shown them the influence creativity can have on the physical space around them.”
If you have a child attending St Michael's or will be attending one of their open events then do look out for a stone Fox, Owl, Frog, Woodlouse & Hare around the grounds. These fabulous stone carvings will be enjoyed by children at St Michael's for years to come, and show the skill of the Bath College students, and the collaborative creativity of different generations working together to make their environment special.
