COLWALL Primary School took part in the national Big Arts Week (BAW) by inviting a local artist to help the children to be creative.

Moth was one of more than 2,000 professional artists who volunteered to work with schools up and down the country during the national initiative this week.

Now in its second year, the BAW aims to increase children's awareness of art and offer them a sense of artistic achievement.

Year 6 teacher Mrs Knight said Moth contributed to the arts week by helping the children at the school to make sketches and studies of the nature and life cycles of plants and animals found in the school Quiet Garden.

She then helped them to create their own clay plaques based upon their research of the garden. The plaques feature images of animals such as frogs, and of the trees in the garden, as well as showing information about the life cycles related to the wildlife.

Being a professional ceramics artist, Moth was able to glaze and fire the clay plaques using her own kiln, to make them weather proof. This will be necessary because the school intends to hang the plaques to the garden fence so that children, staff and visitors can enjoy them.

Moth, a professional muralist, ceramics artist and Feng Shui expert, said the children had to be pushed forward to explore their own abilities in art.

She said: "They have had such fun and the whole occasion has been a valuable learning experience."