THE children at Stanley Infant & Nursery School in Teddington are the only school in the borough to be special exhibitors in the Arthouse Festival in June.

Arthouse is a two week event of co-ordinated open house and studio exhibitions which takes place across the borough of Richmond upon Thames.

This annual event is organised and co-ordinated by the council’s Arts Team based at Orleans House Gallery in Twickenham.

Last year was ArtHouse’s seventh year and over 100 local artists exhibited work in their homes and private studios free of charge and offered for sale a wide range of work that included prints, photographs, ceramics, textiles, sculpture and paintings.

This year is the first year the school will participate and over 300 children will show their work.

Some of the many exhibits in the exhibition include giant flowers hanging from the ceiling and a fantastic spiral of creative patterns (one for each of the 320 pupils at the school) which is suspended from the ceiling allowing children to stand inside.

Maple class have woven a ‘Glittering Glad Tidings Tree’ using a large tree branch interwoven with shiny materials and hung with children’s own thoughts about the world.

These thoughts include: ‘I am very glad I am in the world because I have a special family who loves me and cares about me’.

‘I am glad I am in the world because the flowers look pretty in the ground and it makes me happy when I look at them’.

‘I am glad I am on this world because I live with my family.’ ‘I love the world because you get to travel in it.’ ‘ It is really, really fun.’ ‘I am really glad that I am on this world because when I get older, it will make me feel special because it is so beautiful.’ Sue Roebuck, the school’s art co-ordinator, said: “We are delighted to be taking part in this exhibition and the children are very excited that their handiwork will be on show for everyone to see.

“It is a wonderful opportunity for them to see that all the hard work they put into their artwork is appreciated and teaches them about the process of producing work and exhibiting it to the public. They are looking forward to showing their masterpieces to their parents, carers and visitors.”