"Take One Picture"

Brynhyfryd Junior School, Clydach Junior School, Craig Cefn Parc Primary School and
Tregwyr Junior School.

View some of the project work.

Sections from the Project Report by Mrs. Sandra Stanton, Head Teacher of Brynhyfryd Junior School can be read below. To read the full report, click here.

The initial stimulus for the project was provided by the INSET attended by the Headteachers of the four schools at the National Gallery in London as part of their PHIP programme.

The ‘Swansea Cluster’ was hence formed and the four Headteacher’s worked together to prepare a bid for funding for the project from the General Teaching Council. This was granted and enabled what proved to be a very successful initiative to go ahead.

Network teachers were then given time to plan and consider what aspects of the National curriculum would be usefully undertaken with Canaletto’s picture ‘The Stone Masons Yard’ as a focus.

The cross fertilisation of ideas this engendered proved to be very positive and it was soon apparent that almost the whole breath of the curriculum would be encompassed in the project.

Each of the four schools drew in expertise from outside of the school in the form of art consultants.The artists were encouraged to look at Canaletto’s ‘Stone Masons Yard’ and consider how they could use this as an inspiration for pupils to produce their own works of art. The artists then worked with the teachers in each school and guided the staff on the production of :- paintings, mosaics, glasswork, printing, collage and 3D work related to the picture.

Teachers from the four schools prepared a portfolio showing the extent and variety of work being undertaken in the schools. This was then sent off to the National Gallery for their consideration. The gallery were impressed with the quality of work and hence sent two members of staff down to view the work in progress.

As the gallery representatives only had a few hours to view the work of the four cluster schools it was decided to bring the work of all four schools together in a joint exhibition. Exhibited work included art, maths, science, literature, design technology, I.T and welsh all based on Canaletto’s ‘Stone Masons yard’. This exhibition was based at Brynhyfyrd Junior School, as it was the school with the most room to display it.

The exhibition proved to be very successful, the representatives of the National Gallery were so impressed that they have requested that some if the work be exhibited in the National Gallery in London.

 

 

 

The Full Report

Report on the ‘Take One Picture’ initiative undertaken by Brynhyfryd Junior School, Clydach Junior School, Craig Cefn Parc Primary School and Tregwyr Junior School.

The initial stimulus for the project was provided by the INSET attended by the Headteachers of the four schools at the National Gallery in London as part of their PHIP programme. Following the INSET the four Headteachers were all enthused with the idea of developing cross curricular work within their schools using art as the initial stimuli. After some discussion it was decided that much could be gained by the four schools working together as a cluster enabling teachers to meet with teachers from other schools, have combined INSET, have time to plan and discuss ideas and also to visit other schools to see good practice. It was hence decided to use the ‘Take One Picture’ Initiative of the National Gallery in London as a platform to stimulate focussed networking of staff within the four schools.

The ‘Swansea Cluster’ was hence formed and the four Headteacher’s worked together to prepare a bid for funding for the project from the General Teaching Council. This was granted and enabled what proved to be a very successful initiative to go ahead.

The aims objectives and targets of the initiative were agreed by the cluster and are attached as an appendix.

Implementing the plan.

Staff meetings were held in each of the four schools outlining the project. The ‘Take One Picture’ video supplied by the National Gallery was shown to all staff and after some discussion it was clear that all the staff in each of the four schools wished to have some involvement. It was therefor decided that whilst much of the planning and research work would be undertaken by nominated members of staff who would be given non contact time to meet and work with teachers from other classes and also from other schools, all staff would take part in a cross curricular ‘Take One Picture’ week with their pupils.

Network teachers were then given time to plan and consider what aspects of the National curriculum would be usefully undertaken with Canaletto’s picture ‘The Stone Masons Yard’ as a focus.

The cross fertilisation of ideas this engendered proved to be very positive and it was soon apparent that almost the whole breath of the curriculum would be encompassed in the project.

Each of the four schools drew in expertise from outside of the school in the form of art consultants.The artists were encouraged to look at Canaletto’s ‘Stone Masons Yard’ and consider how they could use this as an inspiration for pupils to produce their own works of art. The artists then worked with the teachers in each school and guided the staff on the production of :- paintings, mosaics, glasswork, printing, collage and 3D work related to the picture.

The teachers then took their ideas and new found skills back into the classroom and worked with the pupils to produce work that proved to be of an outstanding quality.
Each of the four schools also held a Canaletto week at different times and the network staff were given time to visit the other schools to see good practice. All teachers came back from the visits enthused and full of ideas, some indeed totally unconnected with the cross curricular theme. For example the use of I.T to record use of library books was felt to be an idea worthy of further investigation and possible inclusion in future school development plans for the other schools.

Teachers from the four schools prepared a portfolio showing the extent and variety of work being undertaken in the schools. This was then sent off to the National Gallery for their consideration. The gallery were impressed with the quality of work and hence sent two members of staff down to view the work in progress.

As the gallery representatives only had a few hours to view the work of the four cluster schools it was decided to bring the work of all four schools together in a joint exhibition. Exhibited work included art, maths, science, literature, design technology, I.T and welsh all based on Canaletto’s ‘Stone Masons yard’. This exhibition was based at Brynhyfyrd Junior School, as it was the school with the most room to display it.

Teachers from the four schools had time to work together on mounting the exhibition and gained much from one another on techniques of mounting ,display of work etc.

The exhibition proved to be very successful, the representatives of the National Gallery were so impressed that they have requested that some if the work be exhibited in the National Gallery in London. Items from the exhibit can be viewed on our website www.bjschool.freserve.co.uk.

The exhibition of work also proved to be very popular locally. Members of the LEA and governors and teachers from schools have been invited to visit the exhibition. The exhibition is also due to be relocated to the foyer of County Hall during March 2004 to
illustrate the good work on going in Swansea schools.

Out of over 120 schools who submitted portfolios to the gallery only eleven schools were invited to exhibit in London. Four of those eleven being our network schools. This we feel is a great accolade and is one measure of a very successful project.

The four Headteachers have been asked to speak about the initiative at –
· County Headteachers conference
· A meeting of Art and Design Advisers from across Wales

Also some of the work will be on display at Parklands School when Mrs. Susan Lewis chief HMI addresses a NAPE meeting in March 2004. But perhaps the real measure of the success of the project has been the enjoyment of all those involved in it. The staff of each of the four schools have unanimously agreed to take part in next years National Gallery ‘Take One Picture’ project. Eight members of staff from the four schools have visited the gallery for INSET and we are now all set to continue and expand on this approach to cross curricular work in our schools.

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