This was the first year of our innovative partnership with a consortium of eight schools in Manor Park, Newham, who have pooled resources and planning to work with Bow Arts on a series of artist-led projects.
Since September Bow Arts has delivered ten artist-led training sessions for staff from all eight schools, upskilling them in a range of media from animation and printing onto textiles to assessing and moderating pupils' artwork.
Over the summer term, each school worked with an artist from Bow Arts to deliver a bespoke project for their pupils. These have been hugely varied and have included an Olympic themed animation project at Dersingham Primary School, a playground mural of positive messages about learning, and children from Sheringham Nursery creating Damien Hirst style spinning paintings and mini-beast models.
To celebrate the first year of this successful model, the schools and artists all came together at Little Ilford Secondary school on Tuesday 3rd July. They got to showcase the work that has been made and the skills that have been learnt through a professionally presented exhibition and participatory drop in workshops. Children from different schools shared their new skills with each other, commenting that ‘I've learnt to work with students from other schools and if you work with your partner it will be easier to finish the project.’. Parents and staff joined later on for drop in activities and to learn about the work that has been taking place across the consortium. It was a fantastic day to celebrate everyone's achievements and look ahead to future years working together.
