"As a Learning Officer with Wakefield Council’s Museums & Castles Team, I worked with Aprille McShane on a environmental art project entitled Healthy Hedgerows through the Autumn and Winter Terms of the 2023-24 academic year. This project focused on the hedgerows and natural habitat at Sandal Castle and involved the delivery of three workshops to 5 classes at local primary schools – two workshops in class and one workshop at the castle. On all occasions I observed Aprille interacting with the participating pupils is such a positive and inspirational way. Her manner with the pupils was always calm and she clearly provided instruction for a variety of art activities designed to feed into the creation of a largescale commission for display at Sandal Castle. The pupils were fully engaged in the art tasks set by Aprille and loved learning new artistic skills and methods from her, such as ‘drawing with scissors’.  They were thrilled to have the opportunity to work with a professional artist and to achieve their Arts Award Discover through their work with Aprille. They were also so excited to be involved in the creation of the Aprille’s largescale work which is now installed at Sandal Castle. Aprille is a talented and insightful artist with a wonderful approach to working with and inspiring young people in art."