The Lost Words - an art project

As a school, we have been redesigning and improving our curriculum. It is an important part of ensuring the education that we are providing for our children is interesting and relevant, as well as meeting the National Curriculum objectives and showing progress in terms of the skills that children are learning and using.

Jayne Stillman, County Inspector/Adviser for Visual Arts came to meet with myself (Curriculum Lead), Sharon Taylor (Headteacher) Liz Jones (Art Lead) and Becky Stanley (PPA Teacher) and we started to design an art week. All of this proposed work hinged on the text The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. We used the book as our inspiration and then thought about the skills and experiences of our children in order to bring this book to life through various different mediums. All of the children learned five facts about the artist Jackie Morris and enjoyed the book, before developing their ideas for their artistic specialism.

Shortly after this initial meeting, Jayne Stillman came back to school to meet with us as a whole staff, to deliver a twilight training session. It was interactive and inspiring. It made sure that all of us knew how the subject of art worked and how to develop our own skills appropriate to what we are teaching. We established that during art week we wanted to cover all of the skills (drawing, painting, collage, printing, sculpture, textiles, art and ICT). We also wanted to make sure that our children were learning about artists and the visual elements (colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space).

During art week there was a real buzz around the school. The children were enjoying all of the hands-on experience and that they got to see an artistic project through from beginning to end. Teachers enjoyed displaying the artwork that their classes were producing and it was a real pleasure to wander around the school and see this in action.

Year R

Early Years focused on insects. Their high- quality outcome was a piece of collaborative art – a giant collaged caterpillar! All of the children joined in with the work, and it is still on display now! A real memory for them to treasure.

Year 1

In Year 1, their focus was on leaves. They completed sewing as well as observational drawings involving chalk and charcoal to show the difference in tone.

Year 2

In Year 2 the children completed 3D sculptures of flowers using pipe cleaners and natural resources. They also made observational drawings and then used different media to paint their sketches; the children used oil pastels and watercolours to do this.

Year 3

Year 3 enjoyed their theme of birds. They also completed a large-scale collaborative piece of art involving zen-doodling, inspired by the artist Johanna Blasford.

Year 4

Year 4 made small 3D sculptures of trees from wire. This developed their fine motor skills and attention to detail that is required in both observational drawings and then creating sculptures using those sketches.

Year 5

Year 5 used watercolours to create landscapes involving their theme of water, and they also made small fish sculptures out of clay. They explored the elements of pattern, texture, line and shape in order to make this successful.

Year 6

Year 6 used elements of collage and painting to create a mixed media piece on their theme of hedgerows. They were also lucky enough tohave a visit from a local artist who discussed how their patterns and artistic designs could then be transformed into actual items for sale. This related the children’s artistic knowledge and experience to the real world around them.

Our end goal was to create high-quality art that could go on display during Stanmore’s 90th birthday celebrations! The artwork that was on display set the scene for our celebrations. They have also helped to create high-quality and interesting displays for our school moving forwards.

Jayne helped us to outline a really positive week for our staff and children and helped us to develop our own skills and knowledge in relation to the art curriculum. Which in turn has helped us to demand high expectations of all children in all areas of the curriculum.

Claire Evers

Curriculum Lead Stanmore Primary School