Pupils have been posting art and secret messages to family and friends as part of a project set up by an Islington Museum.

Year 8 children at Highbury Grove School spent a number of weeks learning about the history of playful post at The British Postal Museum and Archive and have even created an exhibition at the museum in Clerkenwell.

The students worked with Sally Sculthorpe, BPMA learning officer and All Change Artist Carl Stevenson to design, make and send their own mail art, mimicking a trend which started in the 1950s and saw artists exchanging works by post as a way of sharing ideas.

Rebecca Campbell-Gay, Islington’s heritage education officer, said the project had helped pupils “rediscover the magic in museum collections”.

“Students were encouraged to look at local history and local collections from a new perspective, using diverse creative approaches to bring the objects and artworks to life,” she said.