There are many ways to use bespoke Wall Art in your school. The value of opting for bespoke designs is that you can align them to your school’s branding, colours, tone of voice and unique objectives.
The first step is to establish your goals. You may want to use Wall Art to improve learning outcomes and show the strength of your curriculum. Or, if your goal is to improve pupil wellbeing, you can opt for calm, muted colours, nature themes or positive messages.
Many schools are keen to use their walls to showcase the rich array of learning opportunities and extracurricular they offer.
Whatever you’d like to achieve, it’s possible with bespoke Wall Art. We strongly advocate opting for bespoke design to make your school stand out from the rest.
Want to know where to begin? Below are ten tips for using bespoke Wall Art in your school.
1. Welcome visitors
Wall Art on your school’s exterior walls and fencing gives a window into life at your school.
A visual welcome can make your school an inviting place to visit. And, well designed Wall Art in your reception area can make that all-important first impression a good one. You can communicate a lot about your school using visual representations of what you stand for.
Remember that a friendly and welcoming reception area will make your visitors feel comfortable and at ease. And, whether you’re welcoming a prospective parent, new pupil or external supplier, they’ll be more likely to come back in the future. Word of mouth is very important too, so that first impression really counts!
2. Inspire learning
High impact Wall Art, with interesting and age-appropriate content, will encourage children’s
natural curiosity. Positive messages can inspire pupils and staff alike.
Wall Art can also be used to raise pupils’ ambitions. Consider including carefully chosen, aspirational wording and images for your Wall Art designs. If you’re keen to bridge learning gaps and improve knowledge, you can feature facts and useful pieces of information on your classroom walls or corridors.
Don’t forget your school stairwells too – these tend to be heavily populated areas of your school. So they’re the ideal space to turn your walls into learning opportunities.
3. Additional learning resources
Bespoke artwork can showcase curriculum information and act as a visual resource to
support your pupils’ learning.
It can also improve engagement and subject knowledge. For example, you can use timelines of historical events to reinforce class-based learning. You might even open pupils’ eyes to the impact of key figures and events in history – a subject that has sadly lost some of its appeal among younger students.
Geographical maps and location-based designs can boost children’s understanding of the world around them. You could even feature a timeline of your school and showcase how you’ve evolved and the impact your pupils have made on the world.
4. Spark curiosity and lateral thinking
Inspiring Wall Art can stimulate curiosity and interest in the subject matter being depicted.
You might showcase your curriculum, or focus on one or multiple subject areas. Some schools tend to feature the core subjects, whilst others may want to showcase more creative pursuits. Using Wall Art to focus on a subject area definitely encourages further investigation and deeper thinking. It can also spark pupils’ imaginations and fuel their curiosity.
Use stimulating wall graphics to initiate conversation and discussion between groups of pupils and their teachers.
5. Make your school more accessible
Wall Art is a wonderful resource to zone areas of your school. For example, a computing themed corridor may lead to the computing department/suite. Wall Art can introduce your language department or lead pupils towards the school hall or cafeteria.
You can incorporate natural wayfinding on your walls by designing arrows and area titles on your corridor walls. This can further support pupils and visitors to get where they need to be, quickly and efficiently.
It also helps get students into the right frame of mind for a subject as they wait to go
into lessons.
6. Promote your vision and values
Celebrate your school and everything that you stand for through visual boards that
communicate your values and vision.
Values-based Wall Art is a great way to illustrate the meaning of your ethos and vision to your pupils. It can also raise the profile of how you aim to help children to learn, grow and develop.
Values walls help remind pupils of what’s expected of them and create a sense of belonging and community among pupils and staff.
7. Reduce workload and add efficiency
It can be very time consuming for teachers and other members of staff to maintain your classroom and corridor walls. They may use printed posters or even paint murals directly onto the walls. This can be effective in the short term, but sadly it doesn’t tend to be a long-lasting solution.
Often, you may use more of your school’s budget on maintenance than you’ve anticipated, especially if you need to re-paint walls every year. Similarly, notice boards are useful but require maintenance and updating – meaning yet more work for your teaching staff. If they’re not maintained, they can look messy over time.
Professional, bespoke wall graphics will last many years. Naturally, they reduce maintenance costs. Less maintenance and upkeep can give more time back to teachers, allowing them to focus on what they do best. Bespoke Wall Art can be wiped clean and it’s designed for busy school environments.
8. Communicate your brand identity
Branded Wall Art is more than just your logo. In fact. branded Wall Art tells the world outside about your school – who you are and what you stand for. In addition, it creates a sense of unity and belonging.
Seeing cohesive branding around your school can motivate staff, children and parents towards a shared goal. It’s important for stakeholders, trustees and even alumni as it encourages advocacy and promotes credibility. Strong branding is particularly effective if your school is part of a trust or connected schools network.
9. Add wow factor
Did you know that a well-designed Wall Art can add WOW factor to your walls?
At school, teachers always endeavour to create moments of awe and wonder for the children.
Wow factor like this can separate you out from other schools because it makes your school stand out.
Motivate your pupils to want to learn by creating a rich, visual learning environment. Immersive learning is becoming increasingly popular within schools too. So, immersive Wall Art can capture pupils’ imaginations and transport them to a world where anything is possible!
10. Raise a smile
A stimulating feature wall can help to make schools feel like a fun and positive place to be! It can also cheer up any drab and dreary area of your school, from corridors to stairwells. Most of all, bespoke Wall Art can make pupils and staff feel happy to be in school.
Your walls are the perfect blank canvas to communicate your school’s message to
your pupils, staff, parents and other stakeholders. The value of a school’s walls is often underestimated. But your visual environment can make a huge impact, so it’s important not to overlook the huge potential of transforming your school’s walls.
More about Promote Your School
We are a specialist education design agency, working with schools around the world. With over twenty years’ experience in education and design, we’re confident we can help you achieve your goals and bring your unique vision to life.
We’ve worked with schools in the Middle East and would be happy to showcase our portfolio of completed projects with you. Get in touch for a free, no-obligation consultation.
Bring your school’s walls to life and explore our bespoke Wall Art options.
Visit www.promoteyourschool.com/teach-me
