Children still at school decorate Milton Park Primary yard with messages of support in fight against coronavirus

Pupils at Milton Park Primary School have been painting images of flowers, bees and butterflies along with messages of support which have been sent to children and staff no longer able to attend as well as providing a visual boost for residents in the local community.

Olivia Macdonald, 10, said: ‘I really enjoyed painting lots of love hearts. It lightened up my day and reminded me of my friends.’

Brother, Jacob Macdonald, nine, added: ‘I painted a rainbow snail. It really helped me relax and brightened up my day.’

Four-year-old Amelia King painted a giant green tortoise with the message ‘we are tortally amazing’. Other words and messages included keep smiling, bee kind, friends, hope and caring.

Amelia said: ‘I helped paint a big tortoise. It made me happy and I got covered in paint.

The initiative was the idea of art teacher, Layla Gover.

‘There’s a Facebook page called Believe in Numbers which has been encouraging people to paint rainbows as a symbol of hope. We were going to paint on the windows but I thought it would be good to paint large rainbows on the school yard.

‘Once we started, some of the children also wanted to paint other images which made them feel happy as well as messages of support,’ she said.

Mrs Gover feels the initiative has helped generate a positive atmosphere during ‘what is a difficult time’.

‘The mood in school has been surprisingly upbeat. It was also good to get the children outside where it’s much easier to maintain social distancing,’ she added.

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To help remind the children to maintain social distancing, each pupil has to use their ‘superhero shield’.

Mrs Gover said: ‘If children are getting too close we tell them to get their superhero shield out. Some younger pupils even have their own large hoops which they sit in the middle of.’

To ensure the children are washing their hands for the recommended 20 seconds, pupils also sing a song which lasts for the stipulated time.

Like all schools across the city, Milton Park Primary has remained partially open to Key Worker children to allow parents to continue their front line work in the battle against coronavirus.

Mrs Gover said: ‘I'm so proud to be able to do my part during these uncertain times to help our key workers. Milton Park staff are a great team and our children are always at the heart of everything we do.’