Aride Corner at Grand Anse is nearly complete

When I returned off leave from the UK, I found that the children of Grand Anse School had been working very hard and they had nearly completed the Aride Corner. All the painting was finished, from the fish to the frigate birds. The end wall included painted pictures of fairy terns, turtles, sooty terns and turnstones together with the impressive frigate birds.

To cover the floor the children have brought in sand and that has provided the foundation for some of the vegetation we find on Aride, such as coconut palms and Scaevola; a beach crest plant which has fleshy leaves and is salt tolerant.

All that was left to do was the creation of a few 3 dimensional papier mâché models to compliment the painting. The children had already made a start, and so far these include a Wright’s skink (type of lizard), and a turtle to sit on the sand, together with a bird which is going to soar through the air below the’ Welcome to Aride’ greeting.

There are just the last few finishing touches to do, and one is the painting of a Wright’s Gardinier on the side wall above the area that they are going to keep as a notice board for environmental issues. The Wright’s Gardinier is a very special plant and Aride is the only place in the whole world where it can be found growing naturally and the EcoAride club felt that the corner wouldn’t be complete without one.

Before

After

The corner looks great and the other children in the school really like it, it brightens up what was originally a very dark stair well into something that is now not only very creative, but informative and educational too.