As part of BBC News School Report 2018, this article has been written by Kenneth in Year 10 and Mrs Evans, Head of Design

"We can choose to stand tall and see life as the colourful and unique mosaic it really is."

A mosaic is a piece of art made from assemblage of small pieces of coloured glass, stone, or other materials. Many of the mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colours, known as tesserae.

On Wednesday 28 February 2018, fifteen Year 10 GCSE Art pupils took part in an Art Mosaic Workshop. They were initially instructed by mosaic artist Sadie, who demonstrated the techniques and equipment they would be using. Prior to this the pupils had worked together designing the mosaics, thinking about the Abbey 900 celebrations and what images would be suitable to use.  Niamh's team looked at the wildlife in the park and selected a swan as the main feature for their mosaic.  Susan's team chose a more abstract image based on a stain glass window. Jim's team wanted something more quirky and designed a swan playing a guitar in a bandstand.  All were very successful and demonstrated great reciprocity between the pupils. 

Sadie demonstrated the techniques and equipment and let the pupils get on, cutting their own tiles to suit their designs.  The mosaics soon took shape as the pupils discussed the different colour combinations.   

We were joined in the afternoon by Debbie Sterling, who helped the pupils complete their pieces. The final pieces need grouting, then they will be on display in the Abbey grounds, hopefully during the Easter holidays. 

Mrs Evans said "I am very proud of our pupils, they behaved impeccably and worked very hard to finish the mosaics in one day.  Sadie and Debbie's comments were very complimentary, and they were exceptionally pleased with the final outcomes."