About 3 years ago we were between heads and the candidates were coming to school for a look around and we wanted to make a good impression and get a good one. The children made the letters for 'Welcome to XYZ School' (each A4 sized and decorated to the child's own design then laminated). We then started a smile wall with the title 'Bring A Smile To School'. Under this we mounted photos of every child in the school, smiling, slong with staff, visiting professionals, helpers, younger siblings, the bus driver, etc. This had been added to with new pupils and staff as they come in. Also displayed is the poem:

Smiling is infectious

You catch it like the flu

When someone smiled at me today

I started smiling too

I walked around the corner

And someone saw me grin

When he smiled I realised

I had passed it on to him

I thought about the smile

And then realised its worth

A single smile like mine

Could travel round the earth

So if you feel a smile begin

Don't leave it undetected

Start an epidemic

And get the world infected.



..................... and a picture of an ape with a huge grin. It is looking a bit scrappy now and we are going to redo it with new photos - the kids are growing up! Will post a photo when it's done.

Was it one of Georges relatives?

It might have been Jack, Georges cousin. It certainly wasn’t George, jaydee said that the picture and a huge grin and George always has a scowl

I love the idea of a smile wall jaydee - can I pinch that please?

Please do - that's why I posted it. We have everyone on it that we can get in front of a camera, head and shoulder shots, trimmed to remove backgrounds so they just make one big crowd.


BTW - we got a GREAT head teacher!

We got the children to draw pictures of the staff for the school website (strangely they were reluctant to have their photos taken ) Needless to say some were more flattering than others

The only member of staff not on the wall is our PE teacher - she refuses to have her photo taken and any photos taken in gym have to be taken with her behind the camera.

Can't you get someone to do a caricature of her she may prefer the photo option then!

great idea....

weve got an africa theme on our walls... its cool but apparently its been there ages...so the school might soon need another theme... any ideas..id like to give a few themes so children have something thats more interesting to them and a lot brighter...

I love the sound of the smile wall!
Themes?
underwater - I painted this, with the children, on a 60ft corridor wall,in the days when that sort of thing was encouraged and celebrated in our school! Include, fish, a shark, a sunken wreck, mermaids, seahorses, an underwater cave with beady eyes looking out, seaweed, rocks, a treasure chest with gold etc.

space - planets, rockets, meteors, stars.

fairground/circus

countryside - foxes, bunnies etc, haystacks, wildflowers, scarecrow.

maths wall - have all the X tables in huge numbers.

still thinking............

I think that is a brilliant idea if you don't mind I would love to copy that one too!

Been busy in between working this week updating the smile display. I have made a background of coloured (red, yellow, blue, green and orange) A5 pieces of card arranged to look like a wall. I am in the process of taking a head and shoulder smiley photo of each child and staff member in the school (we only have 24 pupils, in a bigger school, maybe a class display?) to display on the wall, cutting around the child's head to remove the background. In the centre, A4 sized, is a sign saying 'If you see someone without a smile give them one of yours.' The poem is above the wall and an added feature of 'Smile of the Week' has been added, currently displaying a photo of a child in circle time. It's bright, cheerful and is grabbing attention!

Mother Goose
I'm in charge (ish) of our school website, and the only photos I put on have been carefully chosen not to show anyone's face. It's LEA guidance, thought it would be the same everywhere!