Ark Swift commissioned local artist Tezz Kamoen to paint a mural in the school’s playground to mark the start of the construction of EdCity, an exciting development that will see the school move into a new building in 2023.

Last year, Tezz hosted a workshop at the school and where children thought about the changing environment of their surroundings, their school, their daily route, and their homes, and she asked them if they could design their streets and buildings and what they would add.

The idea of the ‘Dream Street’ came to life during the workshop. They used drawing and collages to create their buildings, which led to the long, panoramic hoarding representing ‘the street’ in the form of a mural.

Tezz also asked the children about their hobbies, favourite things to do outside of school and their favourite food and transformed these into the building. She collected the drawings and selected a few of them to design the mural. The buildings, people and activities come straight from the children’s imagination. The mural is a representation of what they would like to see in the local area.

The new primary school building will open in September 2023, and pupils will move from the existing building into their brand-new classrooms. 

Daniel Upfield, Principal of Ark Swift Academy, said, “We are incredibly excited that work has started on site. The long-term benefit to the school and the community is going to be huge; the facilities and the education that will be offered on-site will be second to none.” 

Tezz said: “I was delighted to work with the children at Ark Swift to help produce the mural. I wanted to bring alive their thoughts and hopes about future buildings, and they were full of interesting and creative ideas that I tried to bring to life in this work. I hope it acts as an inspiring and colourful piece of art that helps the school make a move to its new home as part of the exciting plans to develop that part of the White City community.” 

The new school building is part of a £150m not-for-profit regeneration scheme between Ark and Hammersmith and Fulham Council. The development will include 132 new affordable homes, new nursery and adult education facilities, the addition of an OnSide youth zone, and a modern office building that will become the future home of Ark and other charitable organisations.

Find out more atwww.edcity.org.uk

Latest Posts