Mural

By Andy Callow (Principal)

Recent visitors to “Treetops”, our school restaurant, with its wonderful outlook, will have noticed an exciting visual addition in our school grounds – the spectacular mural that is being progressively added, panel by panel, to the wall of our MPH. This on-going project is another example of so many things that I love about BHCS.

Firstly, it is student centered.  Almost 100 students (!) from Year 5 to Year 12 volunteered to be involved, with the great majority of them from Middle School.  They enthusiastically tackled sanding, priming, drawing, painting, varnishing and even moving the giant panels around.

Secondly, it was real-life learning under talented and enthusiastic leadership.  This project has been inspired and directed by our wonderful artist in residence, Fiona Valentine, along with significant coordination and support tirelessly provided by Ann Ridder. Invaluable practical help has also been graciously supplied by our Maintenance Team and Wood Tech staff.

Thirdly, it is education at its best – hands on learning, in teams, with a tangible outcome that will be treasured by our school community for many years to come.  Students got to explore techniques, under expert tuition, that included palette knife painting, glazing, sponging, brushwork and blending.

Fourthly, it is authentic.  The first stage of Fiona’s design references the environment and the school’s successful involvement with helping to protect native platypus in the Monbulk Creek. The next stage adds the beauty of the school’s surroundings with trees, mountains, and blue sky. The final stages will highlight the Faith of our founders, and the centrality of living out those beliefs with integrity today.  

The joy of the whole enterprise continues on.  Watch that space!

Let the students have the last (overheard) words:

"I am so proud of what we have done.  I love walking past last year's mural and knowing we did this!"

"Painting big like this feels great!"

 "This is SO COOL."

"I can't believe we did this."

 "It's gonna be HOW big?"

"That tree is MY tree.  I painted that bark."