Budding designers show their creative skills

Children from Ridgeway Primary School in South Shields have been branching out into a new area of creativity.

Members of the school council at Ridgeway on the Cleadon Park estate in the town were asked to help re-design the school's logo to bring it up-to-date and reflect the massive £90m regeneration project which is transforming the area where they live.

The children worked with Lewis Rimington from NomadE5 Housing Association and Lindsay Riddle from South Tyneside Council to come up with ideas for the logo, then cutting edge design house Rufus in Sunderland came up with the finished design.

The result is a beautiful new tree-based logo, which sits on a new, royal blue sweatshirt for the children to wear. The tree symbolises regeneration, both in what is happening to the Cleadon Park estate, and what happens every year at the school with one class leaving and another joining.

There is also a new 'strapline' - Proud, Unique, Ambitious - with the words all coming from the children themselves.

Rufus went through several versions of the logo before settling on a final design, which headteacher Eleanor Scott is delighted with.

She said: "I am delighted with the new logo and strapline as they clearly represent the vision, values and aspirations of our school within Cleadon Park and were created by the children themselves."

Councillor Jim Foreman, chair of governors, said: "We felt that it was time to freshen up our school logo to reflect the massive transformation that is going on in Cleadon Park.
"The children are experiencing this period of great change in their local area and they have been heavily involved in the process.
"With this in mind, we set them the challenge of coming up with ideas for the new logo's design. They have worked very hard and we're all delighted with the final design. Well done to everyone involved!"

Lewis Rimington, neighbourhood investment manager for NomadE5, said: "Everyone associated with Cleadon Park is really proud of the way the estate has developed in the last few years.
"Ridgeway Primary has always had a central role in this community and it's fitting that the school should get a new identity to reflect the change and growth going on all around."

Ian Wright, managing director of Rufus in Sunderland, said: "The children came up with the ideas, and our designer Graeme Metcalfe incorporated as much as he could from what the children said.
"The children wanted to show growth, just as their area has grown, so the tree symbol was apt for them. We've ended up with a nice, clean logo that sums up what the school is about."

Lewis and Lindsay have developed a strong relationship with Ridgeway over several years, including the creation of mascot Speedy the Tortoise last year and an associated educational toolkit.