Students have joined forces to launch the first ever Clevedon Schools Together Arts Festival.

Plans for the festival, which takes place from next Monday, July 6, to Thursday July 10, began last November and will reach an exciting climax next month when a new arts trail will be unveiled in the town.

There will also be a special self-portrait painting exhibition, called a Sea of Faces, along the seafront and a Sing Bang Boogie event in the town centre.

Four children from each school have represented the ideas of their fellow students and attended several meetings when all aspects of the festival organisation have been discussed and developed.

Youngsters taking part in the Sea of Faces project have been working with professional artist Klare England.

The children have learnt about portraiture and have studied a variety of pictures and paintings that have inspired them to paint self portraits.

The portraits are to go on display along the seafront, starting next to Clevedon Pier, from Monday July 6 to July 20. If all the 2,500 students in the town take part, the gallery could be more than 800m long.

Pupils have also been working with artist Sally Corney to create original pieces of art that will be exhibited in the town to form part of an innovative arts trail.

The art installations have been inspired by the venues in which they will be sited, including the Curzon Cinema, Clevedon Pier, Medical Centre, Clevedon Court, Baptist Church, Queens Square, and Clevedon Community School, and there will a book promoting the trail.

One of the highlights of the festival will be a Sing Bang Boogie event at Queens Square on July 10.

Pupils from each school will perform original songs, dance and drumming routines inspired by a variety of world cultures including the Indian, African and traditional English cultures.

Sing Bang Boogie starts at 10am, and if the weather is poor, will move to the Baptist Church in Queens Square.

The schools participating in the festival are Clevedon Community School, All Saints East Clevedon CE VC Primary, Mary Elton Primary, St John the Evangelist CE VA Primary, St Nicholas Chantry CE VC Primary, Yeo Moor Infant, and Yeo Moor Junior schools.

Yeo Moor Junior School head teacher, Roland Lovatt, said: "The Clevedon Together Arts Festival is a fantastic opportunity for the young people in our schools to come together.

"They have been deeply involved in the planning and it is amazing how one idea sparks off another.

For more information please contact Pippa Gribben on 01275 879 727 or email pippa.gribben@staff.yeomoor-jun.n-somerset.sch.uk.