Argyll East School mural marks district’s history

This panel of Argyll East School’s mural shows the diverse interests and opportunities open to the students.

This year Argyll East School has been looking at its district’s local history.

In their classrooms they have been reading books, including the Argyll Centenary Book, and learning the stories of their district and the people who helped shape it.

The eight panels of Argyll East School’s mural create a timeline of events.

They have looked at maps and had Matua Dwayne Hapuku and Hamish Carlson come in and give two perspectives of the local history. They have also visited the local museum and Pukekaihou.

All this learning led the students to create a mural to depict their learning visually. They worked alongside artist Susan Davidson, through the Creatives in Schools Initiative, who spent many hours teaching techniques such as gridding, colour mixing, shading, kowhaiwhai and proportion.

Argyll East School students working under the guidance of Central Hawke’s Bay artist Susan Davidson.

The students divided eight large panels into different moments in time so that their mural became a timeline of events. The boards show what life would have been like before humans right through to modern-day living.

Some important events that shaped the district such as the arrival of Māori and then Europeans, conflict, introduced animals and the evolving landscape are all depicted on the mural which has the school’s Mangaotai Stream consistently meandering through it.

The students included events that helped shape New Zealand history.

Students from Year 0-8 all had opportunities to contribute their learning and ideas into the mural and all spent time working alongside Susan to bring their learning to life. The mural took a year to complete and was officially opened at this year’s prizegiving ceremony.