Billesley Primary Chandos Primary Croft Academy George Betts Kings Rise Shirestone Primary Shireland Hall Primary Tiverton Primary Woods Bank Academy
As part of Arts Council England’s Creativity Collaboratives programme we are working with nine primary schools from the Elliot Foundation across the Midlands, to explore how schools can use creativity and artistic collaborations to enable children to flourish. Below are details about the projects we have been working on in 2023 and 2024…
Billesley Primary School
No Such Thing As A Civil War
Prompted by the death of Elizabeth II and coronation of Charles III a cast of almost ninety ten and eleven year olds took their audience back in time to the death of Elizabeth I and through English / Scottish / Irish / Welsh / European / Religious politics to the crowning of Charles II. This project has it’s own WEBPAGE
Tiverton Primary School
Voyages
As part of their work on learning about the history of exploration, with artist Jack Trow, the children learned about different explorers across time, planned their own adventures, made maps of the local area, walked and made dens in the hills, created their own geo-caches and sent a water powered rocket into the sky.
Chandos Primary
Imagine if …
A project to encourage children to use their imagination and be spontaneous. Each week the children were offered an envelope to open within which was a prompt – ranging from, ‘there’s a tiger wandering around school’ to ‘a hole appeared in the playground’. These prompts were then explored through drama, art, movement and music. The project culminated in a sharing of some of the work produced.
Croft Academy
The Coming Of The Canals
We worked with Year 5 to create a performance about the canal system in the West Midlands, particularly in relation to their home town of Walsall. We spent a number of weeks developing drama skills alongside learning about the history of canals. We worked with artist Claire Witcomb to create ‘roses and castles’ artwork for the performance and composed songs with musician Ann Jones. The show’s characters ranged from local artisans to canal pioneer James Brindley and from navvies to the King. It was a show full of music which celebrated the rich and important history of Walsall.
Woods Bank Academy
Sister Dora
Sister Dora is an important figure in the history of Walsall. Originally from Yorkshire she was sent to the town in 1865 by her sisterhood to work in a cottage hospital in the town. She stayed in Walsall for the rest of her life devoting herself to it and to nursing. She treated thousands of people in the town and although a statue commemorates her life, her story is not that well known. Year 2, with artist Carys Jones, remedied that with a show that brought the story to life and celebrated Sister Dora and all she did for the people of Walsall.
Kings Rise Academy
The Chairness Of A Chair
Year 4 were keen to learn more about philosophy and to explore and ponder on some big, and some not so big philosophical questions… such as “Is it ever okay to lie?” “Can money buy happiness?” “What is friendship?” “What is love?” and “What exactly makes a chair a chair?” In response to their explorations they created a philosophy song cycle with James Yarker and composer Katy Bennett which was performed in school and then at the University of Birmingham as part of their Philosophy in Schools showcase.
George Betts Primary
Birmingham Blitz
A project learning about some of the causes of World War 2; why certain cities, including Birmingham, were bombed; why the war turned against Germany and the long-term impact of the war on the UK and the wider world … all culminating in a performance in school. More details about this project can be found HERE
George Betts Primary
Ancient Greece
Year 4 working with Carys Jones used a range of different activities to learn all about Ancient Greece. At the culmination of the project, they created a marketplace in the school hall to share their knowledge with other year groups. They were able to talk confidently about everything from democracy to medicine, sport to archaeology.
Shireland Hall Primary
Daily Greens TV
Year 4 created their own TV news programme, learning skills including presenting, interviewing, script writing, camera work and sound. Each week a class filmed events in and around school and then on Tuesday collated and edited their material to create a ten minute news show, ‘The Daily Greens’ hosted by 2 new budding TV presenters each week. The programme was then watched across the school on Friday. You can watch one of the early episodes HERE
Billesley Primary
Welcome to the U.K.
This was a project with Year 1 based on the school’s existing ‘Welcome to the UK’ curriculum element. One of the aims was to experiment with moving away from writing in topic books by making both learning and evidencing more active and immersive. Each week the children visited different parts of the UK using different methods of transport. Sessions involved music, drama, storytelling and art activities. The ‘journies’ were filmed and photographed, evidence which could then be seen by activating QR codes attached to specially created UK maps.
City Adventure Day
As part of our introduction to the teachers we are working with, we created a City Adventure Day around the streets of Walsall. Not knowing what to expect and armed with only a map and camera, the teachers were sent to various locations and venues to take part in activities ranging from needlecraft to stop frame animation, whilst all the time recording their adventures on camera. You can learn more about our City Adventure Days HERE
Scalextric Racing Days
For our first visit to the schools we are working with we hold scalextric races in the school hall. These are obviously lots of fun but also encourage the children to practice a range of skills including speaking and listening, team work, report writing and, of course, racing. In the space of 90 minutes the children all have a go at being commentators, race marshals, journalists, time keepers and racers. More about bigger versions of this project can be found HERE
