Youngsters at a Mansfield primary were given the chance to show their love and creativity on Valentine’s Day ­— and be part of a special birthday card.

The Mighty Creatives, a regional charity for children and young people’s creativity in the East Midlands, joined forces with Berry Hill Primary School for the Valentine’s Day campaign.

Pupils spent the morning creating artwork and poetry based on the theme falling in love with creativity for a competition, run by The Mighty Creatives.

Artwork produced by the youngsters was judged by staff at the charity, with six winning designs selected.
The winning artwork will be transformed into a series of greeting cards to mark the charity’s 10th birthday year.

Nicola Mills, artist in residence at the school, said: “Berry Hill Primary School is passionate about the arts.
“We value the benefits and opportunities this offers our children.

“We enjoy working with the local community and sharing our creativity.

“When The Mighty Creatives approached me with their idea, we couldn’t wait to challenge our young artists and show off their amazing work.

“The children’s task was to express why they love being creative, how it makes them feel, why it is important and to create a piece of art to reflect this.”

Youngsters were asked to write about why they love creativity, by completing the sentence ‘I love creativity, because…’.

The six winning entries will feature as messages inside the greeting cards.

The printed greeting cards will be sent to donors of the charity as a thank you for their support and to demonstrate the impact that their contributions have made to young people’s lives.

The Mighty Creatives also hope that the campaign will highlight the importance of supporting exposure to, and access of, creativity for children and young people.

Certificates and books vouchers were given to all entries and the charity also helped to fundraise for six iPads for the school to help nurture pupils’ creative digital opportunities.

Headteacher Mrs Hill said: “At Berry Hill we are striving to provide the pupils with opportunities to unlock their talent and fulfil their potential.

“Being involved in this project with the The Mighty Creatives has given us another platform for our pupils to showcase this. We are all very proud of their work.”

Rebecca Rose, head of development at the charity, added: “What better way to fall in love with creativity on Valentine’s Day than with the children that inspire the work of our charity?

“This Valentine’s Day campaign sought to raise awareness of our work as a charity in providing arts and cultural education to the growing number of children living in poverty.

“Poverty is not just a matter of finance. Many children, young people and families face a ‘poverty of access’ to opportunities that have a significant impact on their social, emotional, educational and future financial wellbeing.

“Our appeal to ‘Give a gift of creativity’ to children and young people most in need really can transform lives.

“Just £30 supports us to offer one hour of one-to-one creative mentoring that has seen children rehabilitate back into education and homes where they can thrive.”