Students from the art mural club at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island are creating a sculpture from recycled material.
The children are painting scraps from the recent construction of the school with bright hues donated by Dulux Middle East, to create what they call the Oak Tree.
Sarah, 12, a pupil from year seven, told Abu Dhabi Week: “Making the Oak Tree and painting the twigs is so much fun. It is fun to recycle and do our part in saving the world.”
Luke, 12, another year seven student, added: “I am enjoying building the Oak Tree and watching it come together. It’s important to reduce, reuse and recycle the materials from construction sites on Saadiyat Island. The Oak Tree will be awesome.”
Simon Johnson, head of art at Cranleigh Abu Dhabi, echoed the children’s feelings. He told us: “It is important to make pupils aware of the three ‘Rs’: reduce, reuse and recycle. The Oak Tree sculpture is part of that initiative but it is also hugely symbolic. The concept ‘from acorns come oak trees’ derives from the school’s motto ‘ex cultu robur’, which in Latin means ‘from culture comes strength’.
“A pupil aged three arrives in foundation stage one as an acorn and leaves us aged 18 in year 13 as an oak tree. The saying is also poignant as we are a start up school and therefore an acorn ourselves.
“We were fortunate that Dulux Middle East donated several gallons of paint. It also occasionally gives us unwanted or out-of-season paint to use for big mural projects, and we recycle plastic pots as paint pots.
“It’s important for our pupils to recognise the value of looking after our environment. This is of particular importance on Saadiyat Island, which is a turtle nesting ground.”
The Cranleigh pupils hope to finish the sculpture by the end of January. Once completed, the Oak Tree will be placed in a prominent site in the junior school.
