‘Looking to the sky’, 2007-08
Creative Partnerships Sheffield and CapeUK
Manor Lodge Community Primary School

Research question: How can the external school environment be used creatively to support the development of observation, communication and problem solving?

The project was delivered to one class of 24 Y3/Y4 children by Gillian with their class teacher and an HLTA between November 2007 and February 2008.

The majority of the project took place outdoors, with two trips out of school and most of the activities in school happening in various places in the school grounds. In order to be prepared for all weathers, part of the budget was spent on waterproof jackets and trousers and Wellington boots.

Each day finished with a review session where the children put their experiences and comments into their group diary.

Day One: Trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park to see sculpture in the environment, works by Andy Goldsworthy and James Turrell’s ‘Deer Shelter’.
The artist prepared a timetable of activities around the Park to encourage the children to make observations and communicate them.

Day Two: Construction of ‘skyspace’ (tent with walls and no roof), observational drawing and clay paintings on clear acrylic.
The artist created a ‘skypace’ from steel tube and tarpaulin which the children assembled, having to problem solve and talk to each other to do so. It gave them a calm space to work in (although the site is so windy it blew down). The (very messy) clay paintings mimicked the Andy Goldsworthy dung paintings they had seen at Yorkshire Sculpture Park and the children also created their own ‘sheep painting’ by walking on a canvas every time they went to wash their clay brushes in a bucket of water.

Day Three: Trip to Manor Fields, a local park, to explore the environment and see the Sustainable Urban Drainage System.
The whole class walked to a local park that has recently been regenerated from waste land. Roger Nowell who has managed its transformation gave them a tour, explaining how the existing water courses were havens of wildlife and showing the Sustainable Urban Drainage System, an innovative way of slowing and filtering the flow of rain water from nearby houses into the rivers by creating ponds. The children mapped out a trail of willow ‘stakes’ on sloping ground and then ran down hill, weaving in and out of the willow as they went. They very quickly understood that this was exactly how water behaves in the drainage system.

Day Four: Construction of a water sculpture from drainpipes.
The children were given the problem solving exercise to construct and add to a sculpture from various drainpipes, joints, brackets and cable ties through which water (from a hosepipe) would flow. It was important for them to work together and communicate effectively as well as use trial and error to make the water travel all the way through the pipes. The children really enjoyed the whole experience including watching the progress of the water, paddling in the mud and feeling the water with their hands.

Day Five: Bending steel, copper and aluminium to create a ‘plantation’ of outdoor sculptures.
This session and the subsequent one were to support the children’s Science topic ‘Forces’. The artist brought in a jig so the children could bend and shape steel rods into organic shapes, decorate them with wire of other metals and mount them on longer rods. These were then planted into the ground outside to create a ‘plantation’ of 24 sculptures, which have remained in place in the front of the school for several months.

Day Six: Exploring gravity, resistance and viscosity of liquids:
The children rolled painted balls of different weights and materials down the playground, and made drip paintings with water, oil, treacle, paint and clay onto canvas, Hessian, carpet and plastic. They filled in sheets predicting how they thought different materials would behave and what actually happened.

Day Seven: Reviewing the project
The children spent the day in the ICT suite reviewing previous sessions. Working in small groups, they chose some images from a large selection that they thought told the story of the project best and made slide shows of words and images.

Day Eight: Building shelters and decorating them.
The class spent the day making ‘urban shelters’ on the school field from materials such as tarpaulins, ropes, canes etc. They decorated their shelters and made colourful flags out of scraps of fabric. It was very windy (a constant problem throughout the project) which made building anything very challenging but after several attempts two shelters survived the wind. The children loved the cosy intimacy of being inside their shelters and shared their spaces generously with those whose shelter had not been successful.

All images © Gillian Brent