Grayshott CoE Primary School wins Peaceful Project Award

15th July 2024

Grayshott CoE Primary School is in NE Hampshire. It has won an award for its Community Arts Day which was inspired by the Humanae project by Brazilian artist, Angelica Dass. The idea was that every child would paint a self-portrait, mixing paint to make their own individual skin tone. The event was also attended by staff, governors and over 75 parents, who gave up time in the middle of the day to come in and paint their portraits with their children. The portraits will create a large scale mosaic of images that demonstrate the diversity of skin colours that make up the village and will be put on public display. Grayshott Village is not a place of great racial diversity and the Headteacher thought that it was very important to demonstrate to the children the fact that the community is not all ‘White’ but made up of all sorts of hues that make us all individuals.

The activity was meant to show the diversity of our community but it also had another impact. Learning alongside their parents is not something that the children often get the chance to do. On this special day, verymany parents came to school and there was a peaceful, family atmosphere which pervaded the day. 300 people took part in this project over the course of a day in one room but it never felt anything less than serene in the school hall, with adults and children focussed on their creations and carefully studying their faces as they painted their portraits. Some parents even came twice in the day.