Best Practice

Coronavirus: Our Angels of the North

Whole-school issues Coronavirus
Teachers and schools across the UK have gone above and beyond in recent weeks to support pupils and families. Sean Harris reports from the North East on some of the work being undertaken to support communities during the coronavirus lockdown

One of our favourite landmarks in the North East has to be the Angel of the North. The angel, designed by sculptor Anthony Gormley, was built in 1998 on the site of a former coal mine in Gateshead.

The wings stretch out 54m, wider than a Boeing 757, and overlook the A1 motorway – with an estimated 90,000 people seeing her every day, although I suspect far less in the current coronavirus lockdown.

Standing 20m high, the angel sits on an underground plinth 5.3m tall which rests on concrete slabs that weigh around 150 tonnes. These anchor the angel to solid rock at least 20m underground. Without this stability, the angel would collapse.

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