ISS students brighten up Plaisance primary’s campus with colourful mural |11 July 2023

As part of its yearly activities week, International School Seychelles performed a noble and just cause this time around to cap off the academic year.

Three groups of classes, Year 7-9 totalling 20 children overall, participated in a community service of painting murals at the Plaisance primary school yesterday morning.

In the four days of activities week, yesterday from 8.30am, the students aimed to finish the murals by 1.30pm.

Explaining the reason behind this activity, Agnela Lucas-Fanchette said “we are painting all those murals to make the school a little bit brighter”.

The two art teachers, Doris Nourrice who is the head of the Art department and Beverly Durand, were the ones who chose Plaisance school as the school to carry out their community service, but it was the students who took it upon themselves to participate in the honourable cause.

“The school is not far from us and this is part of us giving back to the community,” explained Mrs Lucas-Fanchette.

Ms Nourrice explained that the murals were mainly about the Olympics which the Plaisance school had already begun the initiative before. “We came here to help them terminate the project,” she said.

“There were some delays as a result of time constraints and since Ms Durand and I were former head teachers at this school, we decided to come here to give back to the community.”

She noted that the students enjoyed it and participated very well in the event.

“They are painting with a nice pace so that we can finish at 1.30pm.”

She marvelled at the fact that the weather, albeit very gloomy and wet for the past days, has been blessed by God to be perfect on that day.

“We know that this is a school that loves sports just like us, so we make sure that we keep the sporting ambience alive.”

Regarding the various messages on the murals that had been written by the Plaisance teachers themselves, Ms Nourrice explained that they promote inclusivity.

“It talks about that despite having a disability, you can perform. This is also one of the values that our school stands for. We like to do community work and promote resilience and tolerance between each other.”

Ms Durand talked about the fact that when Plaisance school sought out help, it was a perfect opportunity to put the students who were talented and skilful along with their ever burning passion for art, to bring them in to help out.

“We coloured it and compared to how it was before, it is now more vibrant and alive so the students are trying to do it at a faster pace to be able to finish it at the given time limit,” she stated.

Ms Durand spoke about the colours themselves being used to paint, explaining the artistic impressions behind it. “We are using only primary colours straight from the tube. The colours are vibrant, we have nice colours to not make it dull. We want to make it like the Olympic itself, in the sense that it achieves unity with each other, determination. We give it the valour it deserves that when someone walks by, they will motivate people who love sports.”

She also noted that the students themselves love to use vibrant colours to express themselves.

She commented on the fact that there is pride all around for how fast the teachers and the students have reached. The various teachers who were participating as well, including maths teachers, tourism and even geography teachers. “They also love mixing the colours and participating along with the students. This is a collaborative work between the teachers and the students.”

For the students who were not exactly drawing in the classroom and preferred to paint, Ms Durand noted that they certainly enjoyed the occasion.

Four ISS students who were participating, namely Kerry-Anne Philoe, Sian Lozé, Lean Ah-Time and Shannie Alexis, described the paintings as an expression of noticeable values such as community and sports bringing people together despite any disability that a person might have.

“Being disabled does not have to be a disadvantage,” they commented. “It is fun and we love helping out, along with art.”

They also reviewed the fact that the message behind the murals is that it really helps people to be determined, it shows them that they can do anything and if they just try they can do it.

Their message to the youth is to always believe in yourself and do not let yourself down.

“If you are going through something, talk to somebody it does not always have to be your parent, it can be your closest friends. If you want to help out, always ask your teachers.”

More importantly, they concluded with one final poignant message: “Believe in your dreams.”

Text & photos by Sunny Esparon