BUILDING BLOCKS: Lego competition winners Joshua, Max, James and Ruben with their Lego masterpieces and teachers Leanne Porter and Lesley Box 			             TM pic
BUILDING BLOCKS: Lego competition winners Joshua, Max, James and Ruben with their Lego masterpieces and teachers Leanne Porter and Lesley Box TM pic

PUPILS from a dale school were so inspired by a recent visit to The Bowes Museum’s Lego exhibition, they decided to hold one of their own.

Children at St Mary’s RC School, in Barnard Castle, designed and created their own “significant Barney buildings” as part of a project exploring kingdoms and castles.

The children were invited to make their own building out of the Danish building block toy – something with a link to the town. Then during a special exhibition at the school, friends and family were invited to a viewing.

All the Lego masterpieces, which included several county bridges, a number of castles as well as replicas of The Bowes Museum, were assessed for their architectural merit by independent judges from architectural company PlanArch Design and staff from The Bowes Museum.

Winners for each class were announced during a school assembly when headteacher Lesley Box handed over the prizes.

She told pupils the judges had been impressed with all of the entries but congratulated the four winners for their innovative designs.

Winning from owls class was Ruben with his mini-version of Barnard Castle’s 999 station. James, from swift class, impressed the judges with his accurate model of St Mary’s School, complete with parking area and a mini-headteacher.

An auction mart with people and animals won Joshua from larks class first place.

Max, from robin class, got the top award for his interpretation of the Manor House.

The winning pupils were presented with art supplies provided by PlanArch Design, as well as a copy of the Lego movie.

Mrs Box said: “I am so pleased I didn’t have to judge as there were so many great buildings and it just shows what a breadth of talent we have at the school. We have many future designers and architects looking at the entries.”