On Tuesday 6th September, the Mayor of Worcester, Councillor Adrian Gregson, declared Honeywell Primary School officially open as the whole community joined together to celebrate the start of something special for the new west Worcester school.
Special guests enjoyed a ‘bee’ themed afternoon tea and tour of the new school interior before a presentation from Dafydd Lawday, CEO of the Mercian Educational Trust, and Andrew Morley, Head teacher. Parents gathered in the school playground to see their children in the newly branded Honeywell Primary School uniform for the first time.
The dynamic project and investment from the Mercian Educational Trust marks a new chapter for the school. The Trust have been working to develop a robust curriculum and improved facilities to offer a breadth of education at Honeywell Primary School and the re-branding illustrates this perfectly. This next step will go further to reinforce the school values, strong local heritage and community spirit.
The Trust employed Worcester based Marketing Agency, ADD Marketing working with Nexus Creative on the design side, to manage the re-branding project and interior transformation. The vision for Honeywell Primary School takes values from the Honeybee to encourage pupils to be adventurous, respectful of their peers and their environment and to enjoy being part of a team that they are proud of and the benefit of this to their wellbeing.
Emulating these values to inject creativity and an element of fun into the school interior, Honeywell Primary School is now a space that works in synergy with the environment. The corridors are adorned with grassy walls brightly coloured ropes, hexagonal panels and cork display boards, while trailing plants, foliage and insects’ nest in the ceilings with newly imagined outdoor spaces. The interior is bright, inspiring with an array of colours and textures for the pupils to enjoy.
Part of the project also included the arrival of beehives located in the meadow area. Working with apiarist and Founder of the Bee 1 initiative, Mark Douglas, Honeywell pupils along with Queen Bee, Deputy Headteacher, Emma Grace, will learn about how to make the bees prosper and grow in their natural environment. This will extend the outdoor learning provision to offer pupils at Honeywell a different and inspiring learning environment like no other.
This has really been a community investment from the very beginning with key sponsors joining together from the Worcester business community to fund the new school uniform. These included, former Governor, Tracy Lowe, of Lowe’s Family Solicitors, Baxter Williams, ISO Quality Services, Worcester’s Financial Advice Centre and Worcestershire Mortgage Services. Local Councillor, Richard Udall, has also made a donation to the new uniform provision. The St. John’s Ward Councillor and Chair of the Licensing and Health Committee, is aware that with the rising cost of living impacting greatly on family life as much support as possible is needed.
Julia Williams, Managing Director of Add Marketing, comments;
“ADD Marketing are privileged to have the opportunity to bring this dynamic vision to life. Every part of the process has been a joy to be involved in and working together with the school to develop an inspiring brand to create the new Honeywell Primary School and bring a fresh start to the community with a school that deploys values to be proud of and lead by example.”
During the school day on the 6th September, pupils also enjoyed a visit and workshops with Worcester based textile artist, Michelle Flint, who will be working on a piece of artwork with the school to be displayed in the main reception area. Cricketers from Worcestershire County Cricket Foundation joined in the celebrations with cricket tutorials taking place throughout the day.
The project has very much been a community effort. Following on from the sponsorship offered from local businesses for the new school uniform, volunteers pulled together over the summer holidays to help with the external spaces. The Worcestershire National Citizen Service (NCS), spent a week re-purposing the garden spaces as part of their summer programme the team of 16 and 17 year-olds really got stuck into the project digging new raised beds in the explorer garden and repainting the outbuildings. The local Manor Park Church, neighbours of the school in Tudor Way, also lent a hand with getting things ship shape ready for the start of term.
Dafydd Lawday, CEO of the Mercian Educational Trust, comments;
“We have been working on this pioneering project for some time now and are hugely excited to see the full rebrand complete and our pupils, staff and parents enjoying Honeywell Primary School. The unveiling the new name and branding for our school is just one part of the school’s transformation, this heralds the start of things to come we are embracing a bright future with energy and excitement.”
Andrew Morley, Headteacher at Dines Green Community Academy; comments;
“The official launch of Honeywell Primary school today marks the first page of our new chapter of evolution which we as a school community will embrace together with optimism and confidence. We will enable our children to look outward and expand their horizons through exploration and achievement. Importantly, our pupils started their first day of a new academic year with a big smile on their face, ready to begin their new adventures.”
Honeywell Primary School will be holding an outdoor themed Autumn Open Day on Saturday 15th October.
For further information, please contact Vicki Beswick at ADD Marketing on 01905 821 919 or [email protected]