Stained glass window inspired by the South Downs

Stained glass window inspired by the South Downs

April 19, 2016

The beauty of the South Downs has been uniquely captured in a new fused glass window unveiled at Droxford Junior School last week. Every child in the school had the opportunity to create a part of the ambitious window project dreamt up by their headmaster, Matthew Dampier.

The school sits in a particularly beautiful part of South Downs National Park and the teaching staff make the most of their location, teaching the children about the variety of habitats and wildlife that can be found right on their doorstep. Our SDNPA Education Team have been into the school to run sessions for Year 5 and 6 about what makes the National Park special with a particular focus on energy.

It was out of this connection with the National Park that Mr Dampier got his inspiration for the project. He gave each child a sheet with the rolling hill image that is at the centre of the South Downs National Park shared identity and asked them to colour their own version of the hills based on the colours they see in the landscape throughout the different seasons. The children were also asked to research different features and wildlife that they might like to include in the final piece.

The children then brought their ideas to Droxford-based glass artist, Helen Thompson of Fantasia Glass. She worked with the children to create the final ideas for the piece that has four panels each representing a different season of the year and includes features of Droxford and the local area. Each child was given a small area of the panel to work on, before all the individual sections were fused together in a kiln to produce the window that now has pride of place in the school hall.

It is a fantastic example of what can happen when people work together inspired by the natural beauty of the South Downs.