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Art

All Junior classes have one session of Art each week.

During that time we aim to develop sensitivity, skill and creative thinking through the exploration of line, form, colour and texture and their combination in pattern and structure. We aim to encourage an enjoyment in creative work and the expression of feelings and experiences that are acquired from the environment in which we live. The art curriculum is planned to ensure cross-curricular links with other subjects.

Our Environment Matters and The Tree of Life

A recent cross-curricular project involved the children exploring the theme of ‘Our Environment Matters’.

First, we discussed together with each class how this title had a deliberate double meaning. Children talked about endless positive and negative things they had seen or knew about in the local area, or in the wider world around them! This led to a lot of talk and suggestion about how much grown-ups were looking after or spoiling their world too!

This naturally led on to the children taking their own photographs to capture and reflect their thoughts on this very important matter. The pictures show a great variety of different natural and man-made talking points.

We decided to make the ‘Tree of Life’ a special symbol for the project display because it can be found in many cultures and places of worship as an actual tree or it is known as the Green Man. Humans are linked to nature and the environment in such a way that one cannot survive without the other, and if one dies, so will the other. We chose our title, ‘We are killing the Tree of Life’ because the children think this is what we are actually doing.

This idea can be found in many myths and legends too. In the stories of King Arthur, he plunges his sword Excalibur (another symbol of the link between man and nature) into the ground and the land starts to die. The modern day version of this is our current abuse of the natural world around us - scientists tell us they are noticing how the changes in our climate and weather patterns seem to be happening with increasing regularity.