Schools and community groups were invited to gather together on Tuesday 7 June 2022 to celebrate decorating almost 100 small T.rex sculptures for GoGoDiscover 2022, delivered by local charity Break, in partnership with Wild in Art.

The 90cm-tall ‘Breakasaurus’ T.rex sculptures were brought to life for the Learning & Community Programme, which forms part of the main GoGoDiscover trail stomping onto the streets of Norwich and Norfolk between 27 June and 10 September 2022.

The Learning & Community Programme, in partnership with headline sponsors Dipple & Conway Opticians, has given 12,000 local school children and community groups the opportunity to participate in GoGoDiscover, with each participating school or group being responsible for decorating its own small T.rex sculpture.

The programme was intended to harness community engagement, inspire creativity and imagination through art, whilst nurturing confidence and improving artistic skills. The resulting sculptures have been adorned with a range of themes such as hope, diversity, kindness and being true to oneself.

The smaller ‘Breakasaurus’ sculptures will be joining the 79 full-size T.rex sculptures located around Norwich city centre. This year’s GoGoDiscover trail will also feature large Steppe Mammoth sculptures across the county.

At the Learning & Community Programme launch event, the participating schools and groups celebrated their hard work on the project plus enjoyed a number of hands-on educational activities such as fossil digging and handling, creative eye-spy activities and a trail about the evolution of birds to dinosaurs. Children were also encouraged to get creative with words this summer, as Dipple & Conway announced it was launching a dinosaur-themed story writing competition to coincide with the trail.

Matthew Conway, director or Dipple & Conway Opticians, headline sponsor of the Learning & Community Programme, comments: “What an amazing effort by all the children and groups who have beautifully decorated a Breakasaurus.  We stomped on board as sponsor for the GoGoDiscover Learning and Community Programme because it gives thousands of people, at school and in community groups, the opportunity to unleash their creative side and be a part of a wonderfully colourful and engaging event for Norfolk. 

“Break and Wild in Art always stage trails that create excitement and bring people together, while importantly, raising awareness and funds for children and vulnerable young people who are in or moving on from care.

“All the children who have sunk their teeth into decorating a Breakasaurus should be very proud of what they’ve achieved. It’s clear to see that a lot of imagination, care and teamwork has gone into every single design, and we encourage people to come out and spot them this summer.”

Michael Bunting, Head Teacher from Recreation Road Infant School in Norwich who painted one of the sculptures, comments: “Having the chance to join in with this brilliantly fun and educational programme has been a real ‘wow’ experience for our pupils and has opened their eyes to the joy of art and learning. 

“It’s a project that has generated lots of smiles in the classroom, while learning about art, science and working together as a school community to create something that we’re all really proud of.  

“Our children have been totally absorbed, and once we received the sculpture, they had a lot of fun dreaming up ideas for the design, then voting for their favourite before working together to create a wonderfully colourful creature. With Dipple & Conway Opticians enabling our school to take part, we thought it was only fitting that our dinosaur had some seriously stylish spectacles to wear too!” 

Pete Marron, GoGoDiscover project manager, comments: “The Learning & Community Programme is a really important part of the GoGoDiscover trail experience. Not only are participants inspired to use their voices to raise issues that matter to them, but they feel an enormous sense of achievement when they see their finished sculpture sit proudly in host venues around Norwich.

“GoGoDiscover is all about community, from engaging with artists, schools, community groups and the general public, so to bring together so many creative and enthusiastic people reflects the wonderful diversity of our county. Trailgoers are in for a treat when they see these smaller T.rex sculptures around the city.

“Plus, at the end of the summer the project will continue to give back to our community with an auction of the large sculptures raising funds to make lives better for young adults leaving the care system in East Anglia.”

Supporting the Learning & Community Programme are associate partners ROARR! Dinosaur Adventure, Pensthorpe, Norfolk Museums Services, and Dodo and Dinosaur.

From Monday 20 June 2022, Breakasaurus’ sculptures will start to appear around host venues in Norwich. Their locations will be revealed on a downloadable map from the Break website or on the new GoGoDiscover app, which will launch as the large sculpture trail goes live on 27 June.

As part of the display, one sculpture will be a roving T.rex which will pop-up across the city throughout the summer, and another will be a beautiful raffle prize*, intended to give everyone the opportunity to own their own T.rex.

For more information about Break visit break-charity.org/gogodiscover

*Raffle tickets will cost £5 each and are available to purchase here.