THE FOUNDER of a pioneering charity said she was “thrilled” to be made an OBE in this year’s New Year’s Honours list.

Juli Beattie founded the Art Room in 2002 to provide in-school art facilities for children aged five to 16 who struggle in mainstream school.

She came to England with her parents in 1956 to escape the Hungarian Revolution. She arrived with no English and found school challenging.

In her early 20s she worked at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where she used art as therapy with sick children, moving to Oxford in the early 1980s.

Later she would run workshops in schools, museums and specialist schools including The Mulberry Bush School in Standlake, Oxfordshire.

It now runs Art Rooms in Blackbird Leys, Rose Hill Primary School and Stephen Freeman Community Primary School in Didcot.

Being made an OBE has topped off the year for Mrs Beattie, who also received an honorary doctorate from Bath Spa University for her contribution to art education in 2015.

She said: “I am thrilled. I’m thrilled for The Art Room and for the children who we are making a difference to their lives.

“The kids are gems. They are superstars and I feel that I should give this honour to them.”