Location:
St Patrick’s School, Masterton.

Team:
Katie Marshall, John Parsons and John McCann.

Accessible to public:
No, only to school community.

Mural theme:
Interactive mural.

Background to mural creation:
This interactive mural stemmed from a simple idea in a home decor book. The idea was to take the picture but bring it to life. Play based learning is an integral part of the Junior School at St Patrick’s School so to have an interactive wall would correlate with this philosophy, capturing the curious and imaginative minds of the students. Some of the features of the mural include:

• Chalkboard paint – this gives the students the opportunity to be an artist themselves. Some love to draw vegetables in the vegetable patch and others enjoy creating their own art.
• Gate open and closes – Tama is hiding behind the wooden gate which the students love to open and close.
• Curtains that open and shut.
• Letterbox – this is where the children communicate with the fairies. They often put notes and even food in the way of jewels for the fairy nightly feast.

Hanging on the door are different languages representing the cultural community. Students can change these as they wish and get to know the greetings of other students. The beads hanging about the door represent our catholic character and give the mural a special feel.

Students have the chance to change the weather throughout the day with a moveable arrow.

The live flower garden is watered daily by the 5 year olds. Being an enviro school the students love growing their own flowers and caring for the environment. This mural is used daily in the junior school.

The students are really proud of it and their imagination runs wild while interacting with it.