Balcatta Primary School raised their own funding of $10,000 to brighten up the school with a large mural designed by students.
Students from Year 5 and 6 have left their mark on the school for years to come thanks to the help of local artist Linzi Carter.
Balcatta PS specialist art teacher Daniela Fego said the final piece came from months of planning and workshopping between students and artist.
“We did a lot of planning, and we knew that the mural was going to cost quite a lot of money to do because it’s an 18m wall by around two metres,” she said.
The necessary $10,000 was raised by the school’s P&C thanks to generous donations from local businesses.
Having worked at the school for seven years, Ms Fego said she had a vision to transform the front of the Main Street school from the old brickwork to something which celebrates its rich multiculturalism.
“Over two weeks, the Year 5 and 6 students painted it with the artist Linzi Carter and then she finished it off and refined it,” she said.
“We just wanted the theme to reflect our community and in our school we have over 40 cultures.
“We came up with the concept of community and what our students think of Balcatta Primary School.
“We gave them words like culture, creativity and sustainability and the students went out and took photos on their iPads of what they interpreted from the words and came back to the classroom to create a piece of artwork with Linzi and myself.
“Linzi took all of the artwork home with her, scanned the artworks and then in post-production she digitally designed the mural based on the students drawings.”
Ms Carter, who has created various murals around Perth, said the project was a unique opportunity to have all of the students involved.
“I illustrated their simple sketches to maintain their raw ideas whilst creating a uniform style,” she said.
“We drew inspiration from street art around the world and our own Perth city. The style is playful, optimistic, picture-book and dream like.
“It was a real adventure into collaboration and culture and a chance to dream for all involved.”
Ms Fego said she hoped by giving the students the opportunity to design part of the mural it cemented their legacy and bond with the school when they drive past years down the line.
She said the school will also look to apply for future local government grants to replicate this in other parts of the campus.