SCHOOL railings don't have to be miserable grey barriers — just ask these creative youngsters who helped turn a safety feature into a piece of art.

Young artists at Clarendon Primary have unveiled their new look colourful, contemporary steelwork barrier, which reflects its unique school-in-the-park location.

Manchester-based artist Tracey Cartledge, who led the project, said: “The year five pupils were wonderful. They came up with so many fantastic ideas and made a great job of expressing them using the wire drawing and paper quilling techniques that I showed them to make their 3D models.

“Once all the children’s artwork was ready to use, my job was to arrange it all into a design that could serve the dual function of safely protecting the children and looking wonderful.”

The 20-metre safety barrier is designed to enhance the school building but also serves as a permanent display of the children’s works of art.

Mrs Cartledge said the blacksmiths had “faithfully reproduced in forged steel a stunning representation of local wildlife from the children’s original artworks, which includes native butterflies, bees, birds, mini-beasts, plants and small animals”.

She said: “We started the project in March, and I wanted to create a safety barrier that did not look like prison railings but was inspiring.”

Safaa Patel, aged 10, said: “The railings look very beautiful, they are so colourful. I designed some of the flowers.

“I am so proud that the school has something like this and that we were involved in it.”

Headteacher Vicky Chatterjee said: "The artwork looks fantastic.

"The safety barrier is one-of-a-kind and really captures the essence of the school being built in a park.

"The children’s artwork and input really sets the work apart from other pieces of steelwork that I’ve seen and the whole school is blown away by the way it looks."

The railings were fabricated by Luke Lister Engineers in Stockport, a firm that has been passed down through five generations of the same family.

Owner Martin Lister said: “We haven’t done a project like this on such a scale and it looks really good, with all the detail.”

The school moved into its new multi-million pound campus last April and the public arts project is the final part of the development.

A stained glass window representing the school’s history and its place in the community today will be designed and fitted later this year.