Many thanks go to SWFAS, Saffron Walden Decorative and Fine Arts Society, in particular Sharon MacLachlan and Topps Tiles, who jointly sponsored this project.

Katherine Semar Junior School in Saffron Walden made these mosaic panels in the run up to Christmas 2010. Every Thursday for three weeks Miss Willdigg’s year three children came to the art room to put together the design which was contributed to by the whole school (above, drawings submitted by every class). The busy art area has a central location in the school, so during the sessions many were able to witness the progress of the mosaic, which was slowly coming together piece by piece.  Those passing by expressed their envy at the opportunity the year three were having! ‘WOW’, ‘not fair’ and ‘COOL’ were to be frequently overheard (and that was just the teachers!).

Finishing the last mosaic in the run up to Christmas I had the pleasure of working with an appreciative and pleasant group of children and at the same time having the enjoyable experience of listening the the year 6’s run though the final rehearsal of ‘Joseph’ just yards away... no need to ask the year three’s to keep the noise down whilst mosaicing so close to backstage, everyone concentrated hard on the task on hand whilst quietly joining in with the performance ..”...so they finally decided to go (bop bop bop), off to Egypt to see brother Joe...”