Liam McNally
Arnolds Creek Primary School students have collaborated with Melbourne artist Chetan Wadhawa to paint a mural at the school’s entrance.
Student wellbeing coordinator Morgan Abela said over 50 students contributed to the mural over five weeks, and everyone “feels really great” about the final product.
“We wanted to have a welcoming space coming into our school so that when people came in they instantly saw the school colours, and we wanted to reflect the indigenous language of the area with Wominjeka,” she said.
“We’ve had really positive feedback from our families and visitors to the school which has been really nice.”
Ms Abela said the tree represents the “ongoing growth” of the school and school community, which began in 2015.
Mr Wadhawa came to the school through Song Room’s Kaleidoscope program, an in-school arts and wellbeing program that addresses social and emotional issues facing students in 2022.
CJ (11) said the painting process was “relaxing”.
“It makes me feel like I’ll always remember the school no matter what, even when I’m older, and it makes me really happy,” they said.
Sarvena (11) said the project was a “good opportunity”.
“Since when I’m older I really want to be an art teacher, so having the opportunity to paint the tree using the dots is a skill that I’ll have when I’m older. ” they said.
“It will make me feel real proud that I was able to paint this, and it will give me lots of memories of flashbacks of the school when I was from prep to year six.”
