Northwood Primary School in Darlington invited in students from The Northern School of Art to help bring its school library area to life for children.

Level 3 Extended Diploma students from a number of specialist art and design courses at the School’s further education campus in Middlesbrough created vibrant designs, which were based on a jungle theme, and children at the school were asked to vote for their favourites.

Children were able to ask questions about the designs and give feedback to the students who then created artworks, soft furnishings, such as cushions, and interactive bookshelves for the library area.

Zoe Beach, headteacher at Northwood, said: “We thought this was a fantastic opportunity for our children to learn about art and gave our whole library space as a blank canvas. Our new library is wonderful and is an inspiring place for children to learn.”

The Northern School of Art asked Art and Design students to create sculptures and large surface graphics. 3D and Product Design students produced ideas for interactive furnishings, such as bookshelves, and Textile Design students created wallpaper ideas and soft furnishings, such as the Koala shelving designed for the new library by Interior, Architecture & Product Design student Katie Bryson pictured above with Year 2 Northwood Primary School children Shelby, Rashini, Raul and Walter.

Rob Kane, Head of Further Education at The Northern School of Art, said: “We are firm believers in our students working on live client projects that reflect our curriculum, and I am immensely proud of their efforts and abilities to work within our community.

“The students from across our range of courses have worked in collaboration to create outcomes that complement each other. We purposefully chose our first year Level three students to be involved with this project to give them a taste of working with a live client from the moment they started their studies with us.

“The final outcomes are excellent, and testament to the effort of both the students and the tutors who have guided them through the process. I like to think of it as similar to the TV show ‘DIY S.O.S’, where a number of specialist subjects have worked together to support our local community.

“The ideas and concepts produced are as equally diverse and unique as the students who created them and I hope our work with Northwood Primary School inspires other learners to take a keen interest in art and design opportunities.”

Textile design student Livia Wright is pictured above first left with her fellow Extended Diploma Textile Design students Hannah Crosby, Fashion, Textiles Cluster Leader Caroline Forknall and Ellie Levitt-Coe with Year 2 children from Northwood Primary School Layla, Shelby, Raul, Rashini and Walter.

She said: “I really enjoyed this project and it gave me an insight to what it’s like to create a design for wallpaper and cushions. It has made me think about the possibilities for the future – I would love to go into costume design and feel like I could use the techniques I’ve learned from this project to help with different costumes.”

Northwood Primary School is part of Lingfield Education Trust, a Multi-Academy Trust comprising of six schools across Darlington, Teesside and North Yorkshire.

For more on Northwood Primary School, visit the school @NorthwoodPrimary on Facebook or Lingfield Education Trust on Twitter @LingfieldTrust

The Northern School of Art is the north’s only specialist art and design college which provides a range of arts, design, theatre and film courses at both post 16 and degree and masters’ levels. The further education campus in Middlesbrough is recognised as a pre-eminent institution with an Outstanding Ofsted rating since 2009.

Further information about the School’s wide range of creative courses and dates of campus open days is available at https://northernart.ac.uk/