THE CREATIVE efforts of students at the Thomas Hardye School have gone on show.

The Hardye’s Big Draw’ing exhibition in the school’s gallery space shows off the results of a series of workshops held at the school.

The workshops were held to mark the National Campaign for Drawing, which has been running for the last 10 years to encourage people of all ages to try their hands at drawing using both traditional and contemporary materials and techniques.

The art and photography department at the Dorchester school invited teachers, support staff and students throughout the school to attend a variety of sessions.

The workshops covered drawing using a range of materials from light, cyanotype and dribbles to the more traditional methods.

More than 100 staff and students attended and the fruits of their efforts are on display at the school for people to come and see on weekdays until November 14, although not during the half term holiday from Monday October 24 to Friday October 28.

Year 11 pupil Ellie Powell was among those to try their hands at dribble drawing.

She said: “I had never tried dribble drawing before.

“I like abstract and you didn’t have to do it perfectly, you just make it up as you go along.”

Much of the work in the exhibition focuses on the school’s support of the Dorset Wildlife Trust’s Great Dorset Seafood Campaign, promoting sustainably caught seafood and fish off the Dorset coast.

The campaign was the focus of a community lecture at the school by Dr Simon Cripps from the Trust and the mixed media and mono-printing workshops were used to raise awareness of this campaign.

Year 11 pupils Chloe Longman and Effron Chan were among those to enjoy the workshops and see their work on show in the exhibition.

Chloe said: “I thought the Hardye’s Big Draw’ing workshops were really different and interesting and it goes towards our GCSE Art coursework too.”

Effron added: “The drawing workshops were fun and we learnt new techniques.

“I think we should have more of them.”

For more information about the National Campaign for Drawing visit<&bh"http://www.campaignfordrawing.org"> the website