THREE foreign schoolchildren and their family have shown their appreciation to a West Dorset school – by donating specialist wall art.

Søren Foss Madsen, his wife Charlotte, ten-year-old twins Mark and Petra and Villiam, eight, moved to the United Kingdom in August from Denmark.

Following the move, the children enrolled at Thorner’s Primary School in Litton Cheney, where after some initial struggles with the language barrier, they have now settled in and speak English fluently.

To thank the school for the help and effort to make the three siblings settle in, father Søren, a metal artist, donated a permanent work of art of the school’s logo of two swallows, to permanently adorn the front of the school building.

Mr Madsen said: “We are so grateful for being given the opportunity to be a part of this fantastic school family and for all the extra effort the staff have put into accommodating non-English speaking pupils.

“The school logo of the two swallows signifying safe journeys seemed very fitting, and as a metal artist it was an obvious choice to weld two large scale outline decorations together.”

Mr Madsen said the children are enjoying their time in England and at the school, making many friends along the way, even though they have had to overcome differences from their home-country such as having to wear school uniform, longer school days and French lessons.

Mr Madsen added: “This beautiful 18th century building provides a wonderful setting for Thorner’s Church of England Primary School.

“A school is not just a building though – it is a family of children, teachers, administrative staff, parents, governors and many others, all working together. Thorner’s School has definitely lived up to its motto by showing the very best in schooling for three Danish children half-way through their year learning English away from home in Denmark.”

The family will move back to Denmark after the academic year, and headteacher Jyotsna Chaffey said everyone at the school was delighted with the new exterior art work.

Mrs Chaffey said: “We are all delighted with them, the swallows look lovely and it is really nice.

“The children are only here for a year but they have been brilliant and have settled in really well.

“The swallows will be with us forever and it was given to us by the family as a sort of parting present, which was a really nice gesture.”