Pantomime and winter sports fun are all featured in the NORWICHRISTMAS Art Trail

The seasonal trail, now in place and weaving its way through Norwich until Twelfth Night, sees the creative work of 18 schools displayed in various venues across the city.

We visited every school while the pupils were decorating their present stack sculptures for the trail and will be featuring each school in the paper and online.

Today is the turn of Cavell Primary School and Catton Grove Primary School.

The NORWICHRISTMAS Art Trail is being delivered by NORCA (Norwich and Norfolk Community Arts) on behalf of the Norwich Business Improvement District, and it aims to encourage more people to explore the city this festive season.

Catton Grove Primary

The spirit of pantomime is being celebrated in the stack of presents designed by pupils at Catton Grove Primary and which is being displayed at Norwich Theatre Royal.

Helen Smith, year one teacher at the Weston Road school, said: 'We took part in the project following the children's enjoyment from creating our tree last year. The children were so proud when we took them to see their tree last year and they were able to share their achievements with friends, family and the general public.

'This year we are decorating our stack of presents for the Theatre Royal and the children have chosen to represent four traditional pantomimes.

'The children have been really enthusiastic and they thoroughly enjoyed working with our designated artist and our school art teacher. The Theatre Royal have also provided us with props and a range of production photographs as inspiration for our design.

'The children chosen to take part this year have a keen interest in art and have given up some their free time to finish the project in time. The children are eager to see their stack of presents and I know that a lot of our parents have already planned their visit to see our wonderful creation.'

Cavell Primary and Nursery School

Winter sports were the inspiration for the snowy-themed stack of presents designed by children at Cavell Primary and Nursery School.

Thirty children aged eight and nine-years-old were involved in creating the artwork which is on show at X Leisure in Riverside.

Tracey Penton, year four class teacher at the Duckett Close school, said: 'As our stack of presents was going to be outside the X-Leisure complex at Riverside, we decided to go with a winter sports theme, based on a mountain landscape. 'The children all drew their own ideas and the artist incorporated as many of these into the final design as possible. 'As a result, we have a snowy mountain scene with downhill skiers, human snowballs, over-sized candy sticking out of the snow, cable-cars crossing a ravine, a Christmas tree and even The Grinch!'

Mrs Penton said as the art work developed it began to resemble a comic Christmas card which reflected the personalities and sense of humour of some of the children in the class.

She said the class had combined the project with work they were doing around the theme of community, and that the children really enjoyed creating their present stack.

She added: 'They are very excited about it and loved the sessions with the artist. They have been keen to come up with imaginative ideas for the project and have loved helping to design and paint it. All of the children in the class have contributed to the making of our stack of presents so it has been a real team effort.'

• For more pictures and information about the trail - including a map of where all 18 present stacks are displayed in Norwich - plus details of how you can enter the trail competition click back to the main NORWICHRISTMAS Art Trail page on our website.

• On Monday we will be featuring Magdalen Gates Primary School, Lionwood Junior School, West Earlham Junior School.

• Share your NORWICHRISTMAS Art Trail pictures at www.iwitness24.co.uk

• Are you involved in a festive art project? Email reporter Emma Knights at emma.knights@archant.co.uk