Mural sparks curiosity and joy

An eye-catching mural of a possum created at Wodonga Council’s CoCreate event last October has found the perfect ‘nesting box’ at Belvoir Special School.

Located in an entrance at the front of the school, the mural by Lavington street artist, Kade Sarte has become a talking point for students, teachers, parents, as well as visitors to the school.

Belvoir Special School’s Leading Teacher of Wellbeing and Engagement, Andrew Dear, said the artwork had created excitement amongst the students.

“We are really grateful to have this in our school and I think it’s going to be a really good asset,” he said.

“It’s a really good opportunity for the kids to use it as a different regulation space within our school.”

Mr Dear said the subject of the mural was fitting.

“We have a lot of kids who are really passionate about animals so being able to have that conversation, particularly around possums, is great,” he said.

“We do have a lot of indigenous students at our school as well, so being able to open up those conversations is really important.”

After struggling through the pandemic, Mr Dear said it was nice to start rebuilding some of the community connections again that had been lost during COVID.

“Having Wodonga Council donate this beautiful piece of artwork starts to open up those conversations with the kids and who the council is and what they do, so we are rapt to have this in our school,” he said.

“We are looking forward to hosting more events like assemblies and community events.”

Another Belvoir teacher, Brad Vallance, said the entrance has a lot of walk-through traffic.

“We get parents poking their head in and asking to see it and asking where we got it from,” he said.

“This is the entrance where we will host our Biggest Morning Tea in week nine this term and where all our traffic will come through,” he said.

“Lots of parents will get to see it and ask lots of questions.”