LAKESIDE PRIMARY SCHOOL 50th ANNIVERARY WALLHANGING 2013
In 2013 Lakeside Primary School celebrated its 50th anniversary.
As part of the celebrations friends of Caroline Neudegg, the Deputy Head Teacher, worked with the children to produce a fabric wall hanging. This scrapbook shows how it was created.
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Making a Start
As part of the children’s curriculum work they studied the decades from the 1960s to the present day. Each year group was asked to create a paper collage of the decade that they had studied incorporating events relevant to that era.
The paper collages were then turned into a paper version of the wall hanging so that the children could visualise what it would look like when it was completed. The paper wall hanging was shown to the children at a school Assembly in March and an explanation was given to them of how they would be involved in completing the fabric panels.
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The Fun Begins
Following the enthusiasm shown at Assembly it was time to get on with the work. The first year group to help make their mark was Reception and they did this by embellishing a long length of fabric with their hand prints.
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Year 1 Panel
Year 1 researched the 1970s – the era of disco fever and the famous fim Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. It was also the era of the flower power slogan which came about in the 1960s and spilled over into the 1970s.
The children however, were probably more familiar with Bagpuss and Finger Bob. Bagpuss was first aired on British television in 1974. Although it was only a short series (13 episodes) it has been frequently repeated in the UK ever since. In 1999 Bagpuss topped a BBC poll for the UK's favourite children's TV programme
Fingerbobs was made in 1972 and was first broadcast as part of Watch with Mother, well before the children’s time and even perhaps their parents?
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The year 1 children thoughly enjoyed making their panel. The shapes were cut out for them on fabric and they had the job of colouring in with fabric crayons and felt pens. They made a terrific job of the word ‘disco’ using their creative talent to make them very eye catching.
The most fascinating thing was how all the children enjoyed ironing the images onto the panel . It must have been the magic glue on the back of the fabric that gave them an instant sense of achievement!
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Year 2 Panel
Year 2 researched even further back than year 1 – the swinging 60s!
The 1960s was the era of Flower Power and the start of the UK pop music scene – the Beatles, the Bee Gees, Rolling Stones etc. It was also the decade of moon landings. American Astronaut’s Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. entered the history books on 21 July 1969 when they were the first to walk on the moon.
The children’s picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar was first published in 1969 and has entertained generations of children since.
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Year 3 Panel
Year 3 spent their time exploring the 1990s. Eurostar, the high speed rail service that runs between London and Paris started in 1994. Second generation mobile phone systems emerged in the 1990s – the children have re-created a fabulous one for the wall hanging – by sewing buttons and beads onto fabric.
Sony Computer games appeared in 1993 and Internet Explorer was developed by Microsoft in 1995. All a novelty at the time but very common to children and adults now. And, whilst children of an earlier generation used to be enthralled by hand drawn cartoon characters children of the nineties onwards are amused by computer animtaed images such as those created for the film Toy Story (1995).
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Children from year 3 were extremely enthusiastic to use their colouring, sewing and ironing skills to help make their panel attractive.
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Year 4 Panel
Year 4 children found a lot of interesting facts out abour the 1980s. British music, computer games (The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Nintendo’s Mario) and animated cartoons continued to rule!
Superted and Fireman Sam were TV characters created in Wales to entertain children of the 1980s.
Michael Jackson was a famous musician of the era, famous for his ‘moon walk’, white sequined gloves and black trilby. His album Thriller is the best selling album of all time.
The Live Aid concert (1985) was organsed to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium inLondon and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia USA. On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative happened in other countries, such as Australia and Germany. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time: an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion, across 150 nations, watched the live broadcast. Amazing how technology has changed our lives!
The film ET the Extra Terrestrial came out in 1982, the year after Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer.
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Year 5 Panel
Year 5 was given the task of researching 2000-2009, known as ‘the noughtys’. An st interesting era with lots going on – not least that we moved from the 20th - 21 Century!
Many new buildings appeared during this period – the Millennium Stadium replaced the Cardiff Arms Park in Cardiff. The Stadium actually opened in 1999 and hosted the 1999 Rugby World Cup.
The Wales Millennium Centre opened in 2004. Its most striking features are the Welsh Slate, the inscription on the front of the building and the roof that is made from steel which has been treated with copper oxide and looks like an upturned coracle.
The O2 building in London was built largely within the former Millennium Dome a large dome-shaped building built to house an exhibition celebrating the turn of the third millennium.
The children have also incorporated the Ryder Cup into their panel. It was played in Newport at the Celtic Manor Hotel in 2010.
Once again cartoon characters have been chosen by the children and of course, Harry Potter, who has not only dominated children’s lives through the 80s and beyond, but also the lives of many adults! The Harry Potter series of books, written by JK Rowling first came onto the bookshelves in 1997. The first Harry Potter film was shown in 2001 and the last in 2011.
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Year 5 children showed off their artistic skills be drawing the buildings freehand and made an excellent job of it! But, there was also plenty of opportunity to cut out colour in the various shapes.
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Year 6 Panel
Year 6 took up the challenge of creating a panel to reflect memorable occasions from the current decade – and there were certainly quite a few!
The Olympics dominated with images of the Olympic rings, the Wenlock mascot and the medals! Clare, one of the adults helping the children was a Games Maker at the Olympic and Paralympic Games and wore her outfit on the day the children created their panel. Hence, Wenlock is coloured pink, purple and brown! Clare also donated her Games Maker badge which is featured on the completed wall hanging.
Other memorable occasions this decade were Royal ones. The marriage of Prince Wlliam to Kate Middleton in 2011 and the celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
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The Central Panel
The Central Panel was made by the adults. However, the logo was based on a design made by year 6 pupil Amelia Jones to celebrate the 50th anniversary. The wording underneath the logo Living and Learning Together is the school’s motto.
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Community Panel
The community sections above the decade panels reflect the various activities in which the school involves itself. For example, amongst the many, there is a chess, computer, film, music, knitting club, a choir, plus football, cricket, cycling and tennis clubs. The Parent Teacher Association is acknowledged in this section for the amazing work that it does to support the school – it is particularly renowned for its cake sales!
Th school also has a great link with St Gerards School in Lesotho, South Africa. This is also reflected within the community panel.
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Assembling the Wall Hanging
Following the work with the children in school the wall hanging was assembled during the summer school holidays.
On the appointed day Caroline Neudegg, Deputy Head Teacher offered to lend her support by bringing lunch for the workers but soon found herself with a needle and cotton! She did supply a very nice lunch as well though.
Clare, who ‘doesn’t do sewing but has lots of other skills’ offered to embellish a panel with glitter glue and then found that she had to dry it with a hair dryer so that we could progress!!
Jess, the resident artist made her mark on the community panel. She had been dying to have a go for weeks and it had been hard for her to stop herself joining in with the pupils when they were colouring their panel pieces.
As part of the completion process we added numerous dragonflies – some fabric, some dragonfly buttons and even a couple of mirror ones. We decided that as the dragonfly was part of the school’s logo it would be great to embellish the wall hanging with many coloured ones. It is also designed to give viewers the challenge of seeing how many they think there are!
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The whole day was coordinated by Hilary who did a great job in making sure everyone was fully occupied. It was so well organised that we were amazed to find that we had nearly completed the job by the end of the day.
The final stages consisted of finishing off the binding and sewing brightly coloured buttons on to hold the three layers (front, wadding and backing material) together.
The completed wall hanging was presented to the school on Friday 8 November 2013. We do hope that it provides the school with happy memories of its 50th anniversary year.
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Acknowledgements
The wall hanging was created by the children of Lakeside Primary Schol, Cardiff with help from:
Caroline Neudegg Clare Pullon Hilary Carney Isobelle Davis Jackie Roberts Jess McCulloch Monica Dennis Pam Stead
We would also like to thank the teachers and support staff for their help and support, which was invaluable!
November 2013.
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