The Marjorie Loughrey Grant mural with artist Claudia Salguero took place at York Street P.S. Monday 27th - Friday 31st January 2025. The project was a huge success, drawing in stakeholders from our community at every step of the way. We had more than 130 students participate in the project from all grades from Kindergarten to Grade 8. More than 43% of our whole-school student population was involved in the project. Students were selected by their homeroom teachers to participate based on engagement with the arts and a natural aptitude towards Art. 

The mural design was created in consultation with various stakeholders in the school and the final image reflected the stakeholders' desire to show a sense of community, journey and sense of ‘home’. The centre of the mural depicted Turtle Island and the reference to our indigenous students and the land that York Street is built on. As a school with many newcomers to Canada and students travelling to our school via many different journeys, the mural celebrated this idea of the community coming together and students arriving via many different modes of transport.

As a diverse school serving K-8 the mural was aimed to represent the diversity of students at our school and to be a timeless piece that can be proudly displayed on the walls of our school for many years to come. Involving parent volunteers was a great way to celebrate this sense of community and inclusion. Many of the parents who gave up their time to paint alongside the students were parents new to the school and appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the school and to meet other parents and families. 

The art work was mounted on the main floor of the school alongside the newly installed elevator and will be unveiled later this school year as part of the completion of the whole-school building renovation project. 

By: Victoria Esplin, York Street Teacher