Primary School Art & Classics Workshops

A Creative Arts Partnerships, Classics and Drama  project in 4 primary schools re-telling well know Greek myths through art, craft and design, literacy and performance.

Aims

To provide learning and experiential opportunities in the classics for Year 5 & 6 pupils initially in their own settings and then in a follow up sessions at St Helen's.

Subject specialist opportunities were identified for St Helen's to share with the wider community.

Four rural primary schools with whom we have previously worked on art projects took part and a selection of the artwork created during the taught creative sessions was displayed at The Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot during the summer.

Background

Using classical Greek myths as a starting point, art teachers from St Helen's delivered practical workshops at to Year 5 & 6 pupils at primary schools enabling them produce their own Greek vases based on classical examples along with masks of key myths characters.

Pupils also wrote about the action form the viewpoint of the main characters in the form of a letter, diary or blog.

The creative sessions took place in the Spring term in the primary schools over a three week period and pupils came to St Helen's in the summer term for a language and performance workshop.

Resources

Art & classics subject specialists share their skills with pupils and run the workshops.

Subject staff from the Drama department led performance workshops with the pupils on the myths they had been studying.

Art materials for the workshops are provided by St Helen's.

St Helen's organised and financially covered the cost of transport for schools outside of Abingdon.

Impact

For Y5 and Y6 pupils these workshops had value in helping with their transition into a senior school.

Due to Covid restrictions school visits had been limited and so lessons with teachers from KS3 in their own setting and then in a secondary school, and meeting their peers from St Helen's junior department and other primary schools was helpful in aiding the step from primary to secondary.

Pupil Involvement

120 Primary school pupils (boys and girls) in Years 5 & 6.

There were opportunities for pupils to mix and work together for part of the morning when schools visited St Helen's.

Frequency

A single one off event, which comprised of three sessions in each school during the spring term, and a half day at St Helen's in the summer term.