Welcome to our Arts Blog. There is so much to catch up on since our last blog post, so here are some of the activities that have been going on.
Our year 4 children have been centre stage this term, with their phenomenal performance of the musical Hoodwinked. Singing has been heard all around the school for weeks and the children have been busy learning their lines at home and at school, but the excitement and enthusiasm went up a notch during performance week. It was brilliant to see all the children rise to the challenge and shine, whilst also having so much fun. They were supported by the lovely singing voices of our year 3s. Costumes and face paints, a packed hall of spectators and our new stage lighting, all contributed to great performances and a wonderful experience for the children and school community. Not too long now before our year 6s will be preparing for their summer performance, we can’t wait!
Our year 6s have all been learning how to play the ukulele and it was great that, along with guitars, a piano and a viola, they accompanied our whole school choir at our easter service.
We have a valuable connection with The Story Museum at SSMJ and really benefit from our reciprocal visits and the expertise of the staff. Year 4 enjoyed a visit from Lucy this term. They really enjoyed the oral storytelling and the fun drama activity of talking mirrors. Costumes are always popular and Lucy brought along a variety of outfits to help the children get into character. World Book Day was also this term, so every child (and adult), got a chance to dress up and be involved in story-telling activities and a fun day.
In art Year 2 have been looking at Fauna and Flora and made some great sketches in their sketchbooks. We like our young artists to experiment, investigate and have fun in their sketchbooks and the year 2’s have really enjoyed themselves with watecolour and some great observation skills.
Year 3 have also been making studies of flowers. They approached it through studying Cezanne’s paintings, making flower still lives linked to their topic and reflecting the seasons and the arrival of daffodils in our gardens. The walls are looking so much brighter with their work on display.
Based on Access Art’s Bold Colour pathway Year 6 experimented with colour and light, using boxes and cellophane to create effects. 3D making is always a hit with our young artists and Year 5 also got to enjoy some 3D work with their modroc polar bears, linked to their animals topic and their term novel, ’The Last Bear’ by Hannah Gold.
Year 2 DT lessons involved our children using their dexterity to create moving vehicles out of card and wood. The children enjoyed following the instructions and making their vehicles and then testing them to see how well they moved and how successful the wheels and chassis were.
Our budding creatives in year 6 contributed great articles, puzzles, comic strips, recipes and much more to produce the latest issue of their magazine, The Vine.
Our school hall has become a great venue for performances and It was wonderful to be able to host ‘Parenthood’, a performance for the adults in our community, about the wild ride that is bringing up children, presented by a group of professional actors and musicians from our own school community and beyond. The evening was a great success and a great fundraiser for Helen and Douglas House and SSMJ.
Other artwork displayed at SSMJ this term include Year 3s textile work based on their class book, The Wilderness. They created their textile pieces by embroidering onto painted fabric.
Year 5 followed an Access Art pathway to study Grayson Perry’s ‘A Map of Days’ and then designed and created maps based on themselves and their lives and interests.
Year 4 have designed and created illuminated letters as part of their Saxon topic. We used their gilded letters to create our ‘Aspiration’ display board.
Ali Moreton,
Sarah Blackwell
and the arts team