'Celebration' Special Schools - Creative Paths Project

Play Resource joined in the ‘Celebration’ of Special Schools Animations Project today, when the Black Box was transformed into a glittering awards venue to host the event.  The showcase event was the first ever Special Schools Extended Schools Gala Awards Ceremony.  It was the culmination of an exciting Creative Paths Arts Project, made possible by the support of the Arts Council of NI and BELB Extended Schools Department.  It brought 6 special schools within Belfast to work together to explore the theme of ‘Celebration’ through the medium of animation. Each school showcased their work on the big screen to see who would be awarded overall winner. It certainly generated some healthy competition between schools!!  Anna Lo, MLA joined in the occasion by presenting the awards.

The six schools involved; Fleming Fulton, Harberton, Glenveagh, Cedar Lodge, Park, and Oakwood all created their own short animation exploring what celebration meant to them.  Each school shared time with artist Colin McGookin over a 6 weeks period.  During the process all the children learned to work together, tried out new skills using various mediums including cut outs and model making to create their animation.  But probably the best outcome is that they clearly all had great fun!!  To see the action packed short films narrated by the children visit the website Harberton Special School to see the finished results.

St. Patricks & St Josephs Primary School, Garvagh
Project: Mosaic
Artist: Dawn Aston
Age Group: 8 -11
Participants: x 40, x 2 teachers
20 hours

The federated primary school is based on two sites, and lucky to be located in a rural site close to areas of natural beauty surrounded by a bog, mountains, forest and river. This project grew out of the school’s desire to link art with the local environment, as well as giving children the chance to develop their artistic skills by creating a piece of art that would be enjoyed for years to come by them, their siblings, relatives and school community.

The idea was for P5-P7 pupils to participate in a project in small class groups, creating a mosaic and painting inspired by their local environment Garvagh Forest, the Agivey River, the Glenullin Bog and hills. Their teachers were keen to access the skills of professional artist through Creative Paths to learn more about mosaic and support their pupils to create a permanent work of art. They were paired with artist Dawn Aston who specialises in mosaic, painting, and environmental art.

“At our initial meeting we discussed using the environmental theme, I was very impressed with Dawn’s professionalism. She listened to my ideas and carefully explored the area around the school in search of further inspiration. Dawn combined my ideas and her own, as well as the children’s thoughts about combining a mural and mosaic for the wall at the entrance of the site”.
Claire Kelly, Teacher

“When Dawn began working with our P7 class, their enthusiasm was immense. They thrived on doing art that required them to develop new skills and work with unusual materials. The glass tiles were exceptional and Dawn also brought along some with patterns that the children used for eyes and other details. The mosaic project grew from strength to strength, as children developed their own individual mosaic designs.”
Mrs McGill, Teacher

As the project progressed and evolved the main focus fell on the completion of the mosaics which combined each child’s individual piece; a bird, leaf, flower, bug, ladybird, hedgehog and butterfly. The overall effect was fantastic! Clearly taking their inspiration from local wildlife each child revealed a great eye for detail, good use of colour and design which together produced a mosaic that all passers by could enjoy and admire!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fane Street, Donegall Road & Botanic Primary Schools, The Village – South Belfast
Project: Parents Workshops to Inspire
Artist: Anu Sundaralingam
Participants: Adults x30, 4 teachers, 3 schools
20 hours, 6 weeks

This project designed to enthuse and inspire parents and give them new skills that they could bring back to their After Schools Clubs, also proved good for building links between the teachers and parents from 3 local primary schools.  By working collaboratively it served to enhance community relations too.

Teachers and parents working alongside artist Anu Sundaralingam, and a tutor from the Chinese Welfare Association, created a piece of felt art based on a Chinese theme.

The group met over a number of weeks rotating the venue to each participating school. Working collaboratively they produced six wall hangings, two for each school.  The outcomes for teachers and parents were very strong. They included new found knowledge and confidence, which could be transferred to their teaching and learning environments.  It fostered good team work and a sense of pride, and has given them the enthusiasm to follow up the training with creative felt-making projects with children.  Ideas will no doubt be developed and integrated into their Extended Schools Programme to give arts activities a new lease of life.

Fane Street Felt

Fane Street Felt

Fane Street Felt

Fane Street Felt

Cranmore Integrated Primary School, Finaghy Road North South Belfast
Project: Staff Skills Training in Art
Artist: Caroline Jeffrey
Age group: 8-10
Participants: x 60 pupils, 2 teachers
30 hours, over 12 weeks

This project was conceived with the goal of providing fun and engaging lessons for the pupils in a creative and stimulating environment, at the same time as developing the knowledge and skills of their teachers.  The aim was to make more cross curricular links and promote connected learning experiences for the pupils, linking with the revised NI Primary Curriculum.

The art mediums and techniques teachers wanted to explore were clay, ceramics, fabric and printing. In P5 the focus was clay, and P6 worked with fabric using resist techniques to produce batik designs, wool to make felt, and screen printing. Papier mache and puppet making were also mastered!

Planning between the artist, Caroline Jeffrey and the teachers, was an integral part of the project to make optimum use of classroom time. The teachers preparation and participation in each lesson alongside Caroline meant that by the end of the project they both felt enthusiastic and confident that they could repeat similar processes and projects with their pupils in future, without the artist.

“I have learnt so many new skills and feel confident to implement them in a school setting. I have a better understanding of how simple materials can be used to create fabulous pieces e.g. newspaper and masking tape for mask making.  I feel more confident about allowing the children greater freedom with their thoughts and ideas, and have great ideas for future art projects now!

“Artist, Caroline has a great way of always allowing the children to take the lead and follow their own ideas….within reason!! This meant they thoroughly enjoyed the project and were completely immersed in the creative process at all stages, the result was they developed their skills and confidence too”.
Teacher, Grainne Dobbin

The legacy of the project is that the school has additional art resources for the future, two members of staff received excellent training in a practical classroom environment. Now this can be disseminated to other colleagues so that pupils throughout the school will benefit.

“I think there is incredible potential for this kind of ‘in situ’ teacher training that has a strong element of professional development that has a real far reaching impact on the pupils in years to come”.
Caroline Jeffrey Artist

Clearly, both teachers and pupils gained a lot from the sessions, and the finished art pieces were of a high standard.