‘Beyond the walls’, 2009
Creative Partnerships Sheffield/CapeUK
Norfolk Community Primary School

Research question: How can working with a visual artist change behaviours in the school and local community through developing areas of the school environment?

The imapcts Norfolk CPS wanted the project to have on pupils, staff and school ethos were to broaden experiences, develop communication, thinking and problem solving, and to connect in a more sustainable way with the physical environment and community using creative teaching and learning methods.

To start the project, Gillian created a series of ‘environments’ on the school balcony to provoke thinking in the school community about how this underused space could be used for creative learning.

Then a series of activities were delivered to the whole of Key Stage 2 with each year group having a project based on their current topic. Gillian worked with staff to plan the activities.

Y6 built shelters and the journey of a river
Y3 changed the view from their window with flags, a maze and shelters.
Y5 made sound sculpture.
Y4 made large sensory screens to improve their immediate environment.

There were also some sessions with staff to give them some practical experiences of what the children were doing.

To complete the project a group of 16 children were chosen from across Key Stage 2 to make changes on the balcony which reflected the themes of the whole project for a celebration day. They designed and made four ‘gateways’; a maze, a touch tunnel, a sound puzzle and a tree passage to separate the year groups’ displays of work.

‘Practical work is good for some children as they can shine where they don’t in academic subjects. Also good for academic children as it challenges their learning style. They can’t take control.’ Y6 teacher

‘The creative activities gave them the opportunity to make independent decisions – it was an open ended activity.’ Y3 teacher

‘Giving children freedom to come up with their own ideas, make mistakes and allowing them to evaluate their own work.’ Y4 teacher

‘It is fun and we are learning news about the outside world it will help us in the future.’ Y6 child

‘Going outside has made a big impact. Behaved better outside than inside, smaller groups helped but everyone was engaged most of the time.’ Y4 teacher

‘I learnt some useful skills and then I used them.’ Y6 child

‘When they were more confident about what they were doing their language was more confident and precise.’ Y6 teacher

‘The balcony looks cool and makes me happy and looks colourful’. Y3 child

All images © Gillian Brent