Welcome to our SSMJ Arts Blog. Here’s a roundup of some of the highlights of what was a very busy, buzzy and hot summer term at SSMJ.
Let’s start with Year 6’s amazing production of Grimm : A Musical Tale. They were the first year group to put on a full performance in Year 4 as well as Year 6 and it’s clear to see how this has benefitted their confidence, acting skills, independence and general enjoyment. As well as learning their lines, Year 6 created their own props, (during lunchtime breaks), managed the lights and stage production. sourced their own costumes and helped with the face paint. Singing support was provided by year 5. The show was so much fun and enjoyed by everyone, especially Year 6!
We are very proud of our new outdoor stage and its part in encouraging the children to be independently creative and develop their own performance confidence, (one of our latest Arts Council, Artsmark goals). The children love having a stage in the playground to sing, act and dance on – thanks go to our PTA for funding this.
In July our young carers had the opportunity to visit the iconic Sheldonian Theatre and attend a performance by the Oxfordshire County Youth Orchestra. They listened to Symphony No. 5 by Tchaikovsky, as well as more familiar music from Wicked and How to Train Your Dragon. The children were in awe of hearing a 70 piece orchestra for the first time and expressed a new found interest in learning a musical instrument back at school.
The summer term wouldn’t be the summer term without our festivals – the amazing Dance and Camp-out festivals. This year’s 80s themed dance festival, led by our dance specialist Dr Clark, was a great success and gave everyone in the school community, from our youngest children, to our staff and even our parents and carers, a chance to express themselves through dance. The children were fantastic and threw themselves into a week of learning their year group dances and then performing them as a whole-school, on the field.
Our Camp-Out Festival is always a creative delight, with our story-telling gazebo, our art gazebo and this year’s addition of a puppet making workshop with Emma of WildBoor ideas. There was also face painting and woodcraft creations – all in a heatwave! It is such a fun couple of days for the children and a great chance to relax and express their individuality.
Camp-out Festival
Year 2 had a great time exploring the Story Museum as we continue our Spell-Bound collaboration, a partnership that continues to inspire our children through visits to the magical museum and workshops by the their amazing staff.
Creativity can be messy, and we love it when the classroom looks like a chaotic artist’s studio for the afternoon. Year 5 followed the AccessArt costume design creative pathway, where the children learn about costume designers and artists, before getting creative themselves. They experimented with design ideas in their sketchbooks and then created a finished design using fabric, paints, pens, glue etc to dress a cardboard mannequin. This year the designs were space themed to link with their topic.
We are working to enhance creative writing at SSMJ (another Artsmark goal). Year 5 welcomed children’s author Struan Murray to school. He explained what inspires his stories, and introduced them to his brand-new book, Dragonborn. The children’s enthusiasm was captured in their writing afterwards.
We have a growing relationship with independent book shop, Caper books, and are working with them to provide opportunities for our children to meet authors, become book enthusiasts and take part in writing challenges.
Year 3 have been learning about how stories can be told through illustrations and have looked at the work of Quentin Blake. They came up with their own characters and bought them to life through collage. Meanwhile, Year 1 were getting to grips with oil pastels and practicing their mark-making skills, by drawing bold and colourful insects.
Following on from our One Picture Days in April, our Junior Arts Council achieved their discover and endeavour ArtsAwards from the Arts Council. We are very proud of them for being respectful, curious and enthusiastic ambassadors for the school on our fact finding mission to the Ashmolean and for submitting the additional work and journals to pass their awards.
We also had our annual choir visit to the Festival of Voices – a treat of singing in Dorchester Cathedral with other schools from across the county and an audience of parents and carers. Our choir is open to all our children and a fabulous opportunity for them to sing their hearts out in school on a regular basis (alongside the weekly singing assemblies). There was also our irock concert – loved by participants and audience in equal measure, with our children rocking the school hall and showcasing the music they have been working on.
Our September Reception classes had a taster of some arty activities on their transition morning back in July. We can’t wait to get to know our new cohort of artists, performers and musicians and look forward to seeing them enjoy the arts and grow in confidence and skill as they move up the school.
Ali Moreton
and the Arts Team