HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY WALL MURALS

On our return to school after the May half term break, our students and staff were greeted with a number of brand new wall murals on our M-block staircase. Ms Banks and Mrs Morgan commissioned Brighton street artist Glimmertwin to create History and Geography themed murals that link to our school curriculum.

Ms Morgan, Head of Geography, said: ‘The Geography mural was designed to represent the human and physical geography of Brighton. The mural includes artistic representation of our coastal landscape, the rural South Downs landscape and the cityscape of Brighton's urban centre. It shows an overview of the diversity of landscapes that we have across Brighton & Hove and the surrounding areas. As a designated UNESCO biosphere reserve, our local area has significant natural value and can help us learn how to balance what people and nature need to thrive. The mural incorporates local wildlife and ecosystems, as well as human uses such as the Rampion Wind Farm, farming and walkers.

Ms Banks, Head of History, said: ‘The History street art mural depicts events and people of history embedded into our new KS3 and 4 curriculum. The first wall demonstrates events of 20th century history, from the industrial revolution seen by the child worker through to women’s political agency during the suffragette campaign for universal franchise and Indian soldiers receiving treatment in the Pavilion during World War One.

The second wall is a story of migration history, from The Windrush to Malala Yousafzai representing current day. It celebrates the contributions of Caribbean migrants in the NHS, Irish construction workers who rebuilt post-war Britain, Paul Stephenson’s protests to challenge systematic racism and Claudia Jones’ Notting Hill carnival. We are very appreciative of Sean’s fantastic work (Glimmertwin) to bring our new curriculum to life so creatively.'

We were also lucky enough to welcome Glimmertwin into school to present the murals to some of Year 10 students. Our students loved hearing about the design and creation process and had lots of questions about the artwork.