Gallery - HJS70 Enrichment Week
From May 15th to May 19th 2023, we came off timetable to celebrate our 70th anniversary year with a week of creative and physical activity.
We had four artists in residence, each working with a mixed-age group of children to create new artworks to be displayed in the school hall.
- Aly Dalrymple is a textile artist. She is inspired by nature, and her chosen theme was "Inspire", based on our HJS aim to have a curriculum that excites and inspires. She worked with the Hawks to design and make a feature which represents nature on earth, under water and in the air. Every child made their own embroidered patchwork, using pieces of fabric, coloured thread and beads to illustrate plants and creatures that inspire them.
- Sarah Dennis is an artist who makes beautiful pictures with paper cutouts. She chose the theme "Create", based on our HJS aim to develop creative, curious and critical thinkers. Using coloured paper dots and other cut-out shapes, children used their imagination to make the most beautiful collection of sea creatures, including a swarm of jellyfish and an army of seahorses.
- Wendy Tam specialises in the Japanese Nagomi artform. Using oil pastels, children made beautiful, subtle landscapes on the theme of "Respect" for each other and for the natural world.
- Michael O'Connell is a skilled illustrator specialising in street art. Taking the theme "Belong", because we want HJS to be an inclusive school where everybody feels they belong, children illustrated their own names in bold colours and strong geometric shapes, taking pride in their identity.
Whilst all this was going on, Shine ran an exciting carousel of activities inside and outside, which included:
- an orientieering quiz, identifying close-up photos of places and objects outside and locating them on a map.
- a game of capture the flag on the field.
- an introduction to lacrosse.
- a drama workshop, creating the opening scenes of Treasure Island.
- a Japanese workshop, exploring traditional costumes, children's books and games, and printing and origami.
- team problem solving challenges.
Each teacher also offered their own creative morning activity, ranging from watercolour painting and observational drawing to performance poetry and stop-frame animation. Some learnt about the challenges facing children who don't have water on tap in their homes in Uganda and they had a go at designing vessels to carry water out of paper. Others made cartoon strips or illustrations in the style of famous artists.
Meanwhile, as part of the Unicorn Fest being organised by Leukaemia Research in the city over the summer, a group of 24 children were selceted to work with artist Jenny Watts decorating our unicorn statue. The theme is significatn people, events or inventions of the last 70 years. Children have been working in small groups on Fridays to paint sections of the statue. They had so many ideas, and these have been grouped to show our concern for the natural environment, technological innovations, and the ongoing quest for equality and fairness in the world.
David Bowers is a mosaic artist who is working with us to make a new feature for the playground. This will be a paved circle, under the canopy, with 24 tiles representing the Henleaze Junior School curriculum. Every child entered designs, and 2 were chosen from each class. The winners and runners up each selected friends form the class to work with them putting the mosaic together. In the centre of the circle will be a pillar containing a time capsule. Inside the time capsule will be a selection of the children's ideas of things that represent the current year. We hope that the capsule will be opened in 30 years time when the school celebrates its centenary!
On Wednesday afternoon, we were treated to a live-streamed concert by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The theme of the concert was Dance, Dance Dance! On Tuesday afternoon, Mrs Hughes helped the children learn some pieces that they could join in. This involved singing, using Makaton sign language and learning a three-part body percussion piece. We were amazed by how confident the children were when performing on Wednesday afternoon.
Finally, we ended the week with a treasure hunt and picnic on the field, to which the infant school and Claremont were invited. During the week, each class came up with four questions or challenges:
- Something to answer by looking around the campus.
- Something to answer from general knowledge of the school.
- A challenge to do or perform in front of a teacher.
- Something to find and show to a grown up.
All together there were 48 questions, which were hung on flags on trees and fences around the field and playground. Children set off in groups, all three schools mixed together, to see how many answers they could find in 20 minutes. Meanwhile, there was a feast of cakes to eat, many home-made and many cleverly decorated to celebrate the HJS70 jubilee. it was a great way to end the week, with many children looking fabulous in 1950os-style outfits.
