St Aelred’s Catholic Primary School in York has thanked Father Bill Serplus and generous parishioners of St Aelred’s for helping to fund a new piece of artwork in the school entrance.  

Local artist Dan Savage took on the commission to create a piece of artwork which represents the school’s Christian values.

Dan worked closely with St Aelred’s pupils as they designed and created fish which have words such as joy, love and hope scribed into their scales. 

These smaller fish make up the design of the three larger fish along with the school’s values of friendship, courage and respect. 

The quote from St John at the centre of the artwork is also central to the school’s vision statement, “A family of God, living life in all its fullness – playing, learning and growing, together.”  

“The school is thrilled to have this beautiful piece of artwork hanging in the entrance which communicates to visitors what the school community aspires to in living and learning, each day,” said headteacher Suzanne Ulyett.

“The school is very grateful to the parish for providing half the funding for this project, the other half being funded with money donated by Betty’s to the school choir for singing at their tearoom in York.” 

Artist Dan is currently designing a new logo for the school, embodying the theme of friendship, which was core to the writings of St Aelred as well as being important to the pupils and how God’s love is shared in the school community and beyond.