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Barney’s budding artists support Rooftops Nursery

We are ever so proud of a group of Barney’s aspiring artists who have combined their creativity with community spirit to support a North Yorkshire nursery.

Students have transformed one of the walls at Rooftops Nursery, in Richmond into a work of art with a picturesque mural for its children and staff to enjoy, as part of a long-term outreach project delivered by our School.

The Rooftops partnership began in late 2023 when Hannah Hurley, founder of Rooftops Nursery, approached Mrs Baptist about sprucing up one of the facility’s walls.

In the New Year, a group of 10 students, supported by Barney’s Art department, built and painted a range of animals to complement the design, ahead of a site visit to the nursery in February where they drew the outline and painted the mural’s main features.

After the Easter holidays, they returned to Rooftops to apply the finishing touches and erect the animals onto the wall, and met with the nursery staff to officially unveil the mural earlier this week.

As part of the School’s co-curricular programme, every Monday students in the Senior School in Years 9-13 engage in some form of activity that contributes to others and the wider community. These include supporting and raising money for charities, litter picks and enhancing the surroundings of Barney through art, with aspiring artists painting several murals around our site.

Mrs Rothwell, who oversaw the project, said: “At Barney, we place a huge emphasis on the importance of understanding the world around you, and we help foster and develop an expectation amongst our School community that it is our responsibility to ensure everyone contributes to making the world around them a better place.

“We were thrilled to be involved in this latest project and to support Rooftops with such a vibrant mural, which we hope the children and wider nursery staff can enjoy. I am ever so proud of our aspiring artists who have done a fantastic,professional job, with minimal help from our teaching staff, and made this project their own.”

Hannah Hurley, who has owned Rooftops Nursery since 2013, said: “The children and staff absolutely adore the mural, which has brightened up our pre school room and looks amazing. We are incredibly grateful to the Barney students and staff who took the time and effort to produce such a wonderful design and cannot thank the school enough.”

Rooftops Nursery, on Queens Road in the town, delivers a high standard of childcare that aims to develop independent and confident children for the future. The nursery offers a safe, calm environment with a unique approach to early years education, in which children can follow their instincts and explore at their own pace.