Project summary
As part of our celebrations for the Queen’s Jubilee, we entered a competition organised by Norfolk Gardens Trust to create ‘Posies fit for the Queen’. We wanted to celebrate the rich diversity of plants that grow locally, so we worked with a local artist and the BFER to explore some of the flowers and plants that grow alongside the rivers in the Brecks. An artist, Jacquie Campbell, visited Drake Primary School and helped our children create
Funding sources and costings
Funding provided by the BFER - £500
Drake Primary – Jacquie Campbell - £500
Project networks and services provided
LCEP Board Member(s) leading this project: Louise McLeod
BFER supported Drake by match funding the cost of an artist. They also helped select wetland flowers that grew locally that the children may have never seen or heard of before.
Jacquie Campbell delivered the workshops to all pupils from nursery through to Year 6.
Norfolk Gardens Trust held the competition.
Drake Primary School and Little Pirates Nursery pupils created artwork for project.
Outcomes
Drake Primary was awarded a certificate by the Norfolk Gardens Trust for ‘Best School’. This was in recognition of the hard work of all our pupils, and of how every single member of our school community embraced the project.
Pupils
experienced working with a high quality artist - a role model for the creative industries.
learned a new way of working with materials and applied this new skill to express their own creativity.
learned about a range of plants that grow in their local area.
saw their work celebrated and valued with a school wide display bringing the whole school community together for a shared, memorable event.
Staff
benefitted from working alongside an artist; developing their knowledge, skills and understanding while having an opportunity to try a new technique for themselves.
What our pupils had to say:
“It was good having an actual artist. She helped us make our pictures to be just like we wanted them to be”
“It was good because she (Jacquie Campbell) is a real artist and I love art. I want to be an artist like her”
“We got to express our self in a way that wasn’t just drawing or painting”
When the children were asked what they had learnt from this project, this is what they said:
“Art doesn’t need to be perfect to be good.”
“That I can try again”
What our teachers had to say:
“I learned from the artist how to give specific artistic feedback to children.”
“I learnt from that my children are much more capable when given a bit more freedom and time with their art.”
“From looking at the huge range of artwork across the school, I have learned that one prompt can have an infinite number of responses.”
“I know about 7 different water plants from our local area that I didn’t know before. I didn’t know that we had carnivorous plants in the Brecks.”
“Working with the artist has really increased my own confidence.”
“I shall continue to encourage the children and let them see I can make mistakes too.”
“I am confident to teach collage now. It also helped me to see how much science can be so easily linked with art. Next year, I will be looking for how I can link my science lessons to art.”
What our families had to say:
“My daughter was very excited about the whole thing. She told me they did water lilies. And she liked to put details on it. She had fun.”
“My soon took away an interest in different Norfolk flowers. He also came home and started to make his own ‘art work’ with posy and other flowers he knew.”
“This was such a great project. My son came home and told me all about it. He keeps wanting to make pictures from our cereal boxes now.”
“Thank you for organising this experience. My daughter was so excited. She told me all about tearing up paper to make a flower then adding little details.”
“They learned that it doesn’t need to be perfect!”
Legacy
The work on riverside plants has been a springboard for further river-based arts projects including a riverside walk and a project around rubbish in our rivers. Students increased their awareness of the importance of flora and fauna in the rivers around them.