There is always an edge of the unknown when working with children in a design and make stained glass window art project. It is imposible to know what is going to be the outcome when young people put their imagination to good use and apply it to something new. The stained glass windows have always been very different and show excellent use of colour and form. The experience has always been totally rewarding for the students, teachers and the artist from Classical Glass Ltd.
We work in schools all over the country with recent projects based in schools in Surrey, Derbyshire, Merseyside, The Midlands and Greater Manchester.
Schools Art Projects
We specialise in school art projects having worked in over 10 schools this year, both primary and secondary. We have been very busy helping Schools with year 6 leavers' projects and experiences, celebrating special events and the opening of new schools. A recent project for Knowsley Council gave the chance for over 150 children from 5 schools to try their artist skills at designing and making a stained glass window. The project was extended to the Knowsley Flower Festival where we helped 75 visitors make stained glass during the day of the show.
Bolton School, one of the countries largest independent school : Project Completed July 2010
Bolton School celebrates the opening of their impressive new building for the Junior Girls Division, 'Hesketh House', with a beautiful contempory stained glass window designed by Andrew Seddon with help from the children, staff and Head Teacher, Mrs Ruth Brierley.
Stained glass artist Andrew worked with the children to encourage them to develop designs and each make a small stained glass window of their own.
He then took their artwork for inspiration for the new window. The window is to symbolise the new start for the school and is being inspired by a beautiful poem by Thomas Carlyle,
“So here hath been dawning another blue day:
Think, wilt thou let it slip useless away?
Out of eternity this new day is born; Into eternity at night "twill return.”
Andrew explains, "I have been working with the staff and children to come up with designs for the new stained glass window. I have chosen to use beautiful deep blue and violet shades of hand made glass for a morning sky which will contrast vividly with the orange, red and amber rays of the dawning sun. I also have a vision for using fusing techniques to intensify the effect of the suns rays by layering glass and heating it until it melts together. This will give a brilliant shimmering effect to the glass which will really catch the eye."
Dovers Green School Celebrates in Style
The Children of Dovers Green School in Surrey helped to design their own stained glass window to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school.
"I designed the new window with help from the year 2 children." explained Andrew Seddon, Director of Classical Glass. "We worked together to come up with ideas and 
stained glass designs to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the school. The result is a stunningly beautiful and colourful design with a bold rainbow, flowers, sun and even a helicopter. The head teacher, class teacher and children were all delighted with the window which I encapsulated into triple glazed unit made from toughened glass and fitted into the space above the main door to the large dinning hall in the school. This type of school project is a real joy for me. To 
help the children to use their great ideas to come up with the design for their own window is just fantastic. I also showed the children how to make a small stained glass window of their own by using plexiglass, coloured film and strip lead to make up their design. The school put the finished windows on display in the windows of the hall along with a display of the art project. The Head Teacher, Sue Hillman, was very complimentary about the window and the whole project 
saying that she would recommend me to anyone who asked. Very kind, thank you all at Dovers Green School! "
Kettleshulme St James CE Primary School ..
.. is located in the small Cheshire village of Kettleshulme, which is situated in the High Peak, close to the Derbyshire border, between Macclesfield and Whaley Bridge. "As a church school we uphold Christian principles and values in all our work. Learning is central to all we do and we strive to ensure a cross-curricular approach to curricular management with a strong emphasis on first hand experience. "
We helped the school to celebrate the year 6 leavers' time at the school by working with the children to design and make a lovely stained glass window for the school hall. Each child was fully involved with the design of the window, both individualy and as a class colaboration,and also did some glass cutting as well as seeing the window being made. They also made their own small stained glass window to keep using clear polycarbonate plastic, coloured film and strip lead.
The result was a fabulous window as a lasting tribute to the children from this wonderful small school of just 45 pupils.
The head teacher, Paul Quirk said that he was extreamly pleased with the project and the stained glass window.
Andrew,
Once again, thanks for the work you did with the children. As parents and visitors have seen the window they have made many favourable comments. Attached are some of the photographs I took.
Thanks.
Regards,
Paul
Paul Quirk
Headteacher
Kettleshulme StJames CE Primary School
Macclesfield Road, Kettleshulme High Peak SK23 7QU
Tel: 01663 732502 Fax: 01663 735281
E-mail: head@kettleshulmestjames.cheshire.sch.uk
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St Williams School, Great Lever, Bolton
'It has been my privilege to run a design project at St Williams School, Bolton. I have worked with the lively year 2 class, aged 6 and 7 years, and talked about the tragic loss of Mustafa, their class mate who died in an accident in May this year. We talked about what they remembered and loved about him and I encouraged them to put their ideas down in the form of pictures. The results have been amazing and I am going to make their designs into a stained glass window for the school as a lasting memorial to Mustafa. Life can be short and we need to treasure to time we have with our loved ones.'
Andrew Seddon, September Classical Glass 2008
New Stained Glass Art Project for St Williams School
'I am just starting on another Stained Glass Art Project. I will work with each of the 8 different year groups to design and make 8 stained glass windows for the special educational support room.
The theme is ‘An Under-Sea Adventure’ .
I am going to work with each class teacher to introduce the art of Stained Glass, how the windows are made and encourage the children to use their imagination to develop design ideas around the theme.
We are going to use different mediums to design the windows : coloured paper collage, paint, felt tip pens, tissue paper and coloured film will all be used to allow the children to get a feel for the blocks of colour and shapes that make up the stained glass windows. I will take the children’s work and then use it for inspiration to design a window for each class. I will then present the design to the children and we will discuss any modifications they fell are needed.
Once the designs are finalised I will work with my team of crafts people to make the stained glass windows using individual pieces of coloured glass joined with H section lead.
The finished window will be protected using toughened glass on both sides to make triple glazed units before fitting into the window frames.' Andrew Seddon, Classical Glass October 2008
An Undersea Adventure : St Williams School
Leverhulme Community Primary School, Breightmet, Bolton.
New windows celebrate the opening of the new school
School boy Kristian Fithergill , aged 10 , has had his design made into a stained glass window to celebrate the founding of his new school.
Levehulme School in Bolton opened its doors for the first time in september 2006 after two schools merged. Stained Glass Company Classical Glass Ltd stepped in with the offer to make a stained glass window to mark the opening of the new school and Maninging Director Andrew Seddon worked with the Head Teacher Mr Ashton, Class Teacher Mrs Draper and year 4 children to come up with the design ideas.
The design drawn by Kristian was chosen to be made into the stained glass for the front doors to the school. He was asked to unveil the window and said, "I am so happy that my design was chosen. The design shows a new start for the school."
Mrs Draper was very pleased with the result, "The children are all very proud that the window has been made as a result of their work. It gives them a great sense of ownership of the school." Newspaper Story : The Bolton News, September 2008
Cheadle Hulme School, Cheshire
Three stained glass windows with the school crest and rose design were completely restored before mounting in new light boxs. The beautiful arts and crafts style stained glass in the dining hall was repaired and cleaned
Letter from Cheadle Hulme School
9th January 2009
Dear Andrew
I wanted to write on behalf of Cheadle Hulme School to say a huge thank you for your wonderful work on our stained glass windows.
From start to finish you and your team have been a joy to work with and the standard of craftmanship has been superb. The atrium area has been transformed by the installation of the Honours Boards and back lit stained glass windows. You have taken a precious piece of our heritage and given it new life and I know that everyone who walks through this area is going to be hugely impressed. The Dining Hall looks so much better for your repair work on the stained glass windows there too. Thank you.
It is also great to have a pictorial record of the restoration process for our archives and for sharing with the whole of our school community, which I am going to do through our website and school magazine in the coming weeks. Thank you for your thoughtfulness in doing this.
I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Classical Glass going forward and would be happy to talk to anyone who has contacted you with a view to having some work done.
Our sincere thanks again Andrew.
Kind regards
Tina
Tina Erskine
Development Director
Cheadle Hulme School
Tel: +44 (0)161 488 3338
Mount St Josephs RC School, Farnworth
This window was born out of school art project, run by Andrew Seddon: Classical Glass, to design a
window to celebrate the centenary of the school.
Mr Seddon worked with a group of students who each designed a window. The most suitable design was chosen by the Head Teacher, Art Teacher and Mr Seddon. Each of the students were involved in the making of the window along side the craftsmen at Classical Glass to create the window from coloured glass to match the design.
The design has large graphics ‘MSJ’ for Mount St. Joseph’s School. The school motto is ‘Learners, believers and friends’ was id depicted at the top of the design with an open book, a white dove and embracing hands.
The Bishop of Salford, the Right Rev Terence John Brain, conducted the dedication of the window.
He can be seen here with the student who designed the window and representatives from Classical Glass, Andrew Seddon and Stephen Evans.
Ambrose Barlow RC High School, Manchester
This stunning window came from a school art project, run by Andrew Seddon: Classical Glass, to design a window to celebrate the millennium. The finished window was used as a backdrop to the alter in the new chapel in the RE study centre at the school.
Mr Seddon worked with a group of students who each designed a window. The most suitable design was chosen by the Head Teacher, Art Teacher and Mr Seddon. The craftsmen at Classical Glass then created the window from coloured glass to match the design. The stained glass encapsulated into a triple glazed unit made from toughened glass.
This wonderful design shows an image of the Holy Spirit as a dove over a background Sunburst design.