ARTISTS of the future have been getting their brushes at the ready for a new mural at an Oxfordshire school.

Pupils at Wheatley Primary School, in Station Road, have been involved at every stage of the process, coming up with the theme, sketching ideas for how it would look and helping to paint it.

The project has been funded by a £2,000 grant from consultancy company KPMG, £500 of which was designated to be spent on books and the rest of which could be spent on other projects.

Headteacher Joan Morters said: “We were looking around the school and talking to the school council, which is made up of children, and we talked about what kind of things we could do.

“We did a stained glass window working with an artist a couple of years ago and the suggestion came up that we could do a mural. They came up with the environment as the theme.”

A corridor leading to the computer suite was selected as the location, and artist Kate Watkins has worked with pupils at the school to come up with designs.

Four scenes will eventually be depicted, showing mountains, the rainforest, desert and ocean.

About 80 children completed drawings of one of the scenes, and Ms Watkins picked out the best elements to design the mural.

Now she is working with as many children as possible, in small groups, to paint the mural, with the intention of it being completed within the next couple of weeks.

The location of the mural means every child in the school will see it at least twice a week on their way to ICT classes.

Ms Watkins, an artist and former secondary school art teacher who lives in Thame, said: “It’s looking really good.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm – the young ones are really excited about joining in and the older ones are very serious about it, but I think it has been a good experience both for me and for the children.”

Lana Khadari, nine, Luke Butterfield, nine and Meg Wilcox, 11, have all helped with the project.

Lana said: “It was fun to paint the mural. It looks really good.”

Luke added: “It felt like you were there in the different places. It’s a good idea because it makes the school look more colourful.”

And Meg said: “The mural is lovely, really good, and I think it will look twice as good when it is completed.

“I think that it’s great that the whole school is helping paint it.”

fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk