New Plymouth schools unveil their award-winning environmental murals

23 Dec 2019

New Plymouth schools unveil their award-winning environmental murals

New Plymouth’s Inglewood High School and Norfolk Primary School, both winners of Keep New Zealand’s Beautiful’s (KNZB) Resene Wall Worthy competition 2019, are excited to unveil their completed award-winning murals.

Inglewood High School’s mural, titled ‘Kohanga Moa – from then to now’, has been painted on the school’s exterior wall and celebrates their bi-cultural and regional identity by illustrating the rich history of Inglewood/Kohanga Moa, which dates to pre-colonial times as a thriving Maori community through to Pakeha settlement and its key position as a transit point and a trade route.

Teacher Shani Jonker said that painting the mural has been so enjoyable and the students are all really proud of their work. “The Resene paints really helped in creating a professional outcome!”

Norfolk Primary School’s mural, titled ‘Norfolk Life’, has been painted on the front of the school and depicts Norfolk life, including what makes it unique as a farming community in Taranaki and the values they hold dear as a school and wider community. The values painted on the mural include: honesty, integrity, responsibility, compassion, respect, and pride.

“Our mural was designed by a team of students aged between 5-12 years who felt that we needed a mural that would reflect important and unique aspects of rural life at Norfolk School,” said teacher, Elizabeth Carter. “A selection of Year 6-8 students then helped to complete our beautiful mural as part of their senior legacy to our school. They are very proud of their achievement and will look back on it with pride in years to come.”

The Resene Wall Worthy competition, which is part of the Paint New Zealand Beautiful programme ran from January to April 2019, with early childhood centres, schools and community groups encouraged to submit mural designs which included an environmental message. Submissions were received from all over New Zealand and the top 15 murals were selected based on their environmental message, enhancement of the local area, and originality/creativity. The public were then asked to vote to decide on the winning 10 entries. The winning designs receive a $750 Resene paint voucher and other materials to paint their mural as well as a GoPro camera on completion of their mural.

Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO, Heather Saunderson, said: “Research shows us that there is a marked reduction in tagging when murals, reflective of the local community, are used to replace graffiti vandalised walls. The Wall Worthy Competition is a great way to not only enhance our urban environment, but to also bring our local communities together and create a strong sense of pride.”

The other Resene Wall Worthy winners and regions are listed below, with their designs visible on the Keep New Zealand Beautiful website.