Croy's Cantraybridge College gets creative with wildflower mosaic artwork
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It started off as a humble idea to brighten up a gloomy corner of campus.
But soon almost the whole cohort of students at Cantraybridge College near Croy was involved in making mosaic tiles around the theme of wildflowers and fungi.
The young adults, who are affected by autism and a variety of learning difficulties, started the brightly coloured artwork back in May last year after returning from lockdown.
The project was funded by Grow Wild the educational outreach department at Kew Gardens in London.
Amanda Morrison, horticulture enabler at the college, said: “We were in lockdown for about 15 months.
“When we came back in May 2021 obviously parts of grounds had become a bit rundown.
“Grow Wild were offering a small fund for this.
“The theme of the mosaic project was wildflowers and fungi.
“We wanted to brighten up parts of the college grounds.”
She added: “The students loved it.
“This project was for the whole college.”
It is now hoped that the completed floral tiles will go on display on an outside wall for everyone to enjoy on campus.
As part of the project Grow Wild also piloted their Young Environmental Leadership award which one of the students undertook.
This helped to build confidence and leadership skills, Amanda explained.
She said: “That went really, really well.
“It gave them confidence and it was just great that the whole project brought the whole college together.”
Cantraybridge was established as a charity in 1994 providing support initially to just two individuals with additional support needs.
From there it has grown from four staff to more than 70 and accommodates around 40 young people per day.
The students work across a variety of different areas such as woodwork, horticulture, maintenance and others in order to help them reach their own personal goals – whether to get a job, open a business or go into volunteering.
An additional residential site allows for 20 students to live on campus and develop skills for independent living.
