"They will soar on wings like eagles" (Isaiah 40:31)
Respect / Responsibility / Courage / Trust / Perseverance / Compassion
Year 4 have loved having the chance to join Year 5 for Forest School. Year 5 have taught them the big three rules of Forest School: 1. Look after myself. 2. Look after others. 3. Look after nature.
Year 4 Child: “Wait, we are allowed to climb trees?”
What better way to conclude our exploration of sculpture than a visit to the Sainsbury Centre at the University of East Anglia? The Sainsbury Centre has a fantastic collection of sculptures and other art works, some dating back thousands of years and others created this year. Children explored the Sediment Spirit exhibition (https://www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk/whats-on/sediment-spirit/), Permanent Collection and outdoor Sculpture Park. Within those three sections of the day, children were given freedom to explore their own interests. Some chose to explore as many of the thousands of exhibits as possible, while others became captivated by individual artworks and spent a long time with them.
After a picnic lunch in the Sculpture Park, we went into the studio to create some sculptures of our own, led by artist Hannelore Baxter who introduced students to reflective artworks by artists Lygia Clark, Lynn Chadwick, Rana Begum, and Anish Kapoor, who all use sheet metal within their creative practice. Students then created 3D forms from flat materials and played with lighting and colour to create sculptures that might reflect, refract, and perhaps even move. Through the use of photography, students were encouraged to imagine their work on a much larger scale as maquettes for huge sculptures or perhaps even buildings. By placing tiny human figurines in, on and around our sculptures, the scale suddenly became huge! It was fascinating to think about how people interact with sculpture and the buildings we live in.
A big thank you to FOSS for paying for the whole trip!
Year 3 and 4 teamed up to visit Norwich Gymnastics Club and enjoy the chance to explore the wide range of equipment and to be taught by professional gymnastics coaches. The children split into five groups and got to experience five different areas of the gym: 1. floor, 2. balance beams, 3. high bars, 4. trampoline, 5. vaulting table. All of the areas and the activities led by the Gymnastics Club staff were designed to gradually increase the difficulty level, giving all children a challenge regardless of ability and experience. Children were all very positive about the experience and it was great at the end to hear so many asking if they could join the club. If you would like your child to join Norwich Gymnastics Club, visit their website here: https://www.norwichgymnasticsclub.co.uk/
Here were some of the children’s comments overheard:
“I am definitely signing up for gymnastics!”
“That was so scary but I’m proud of myself for doing it.”
“You have to be seriously strong to do gymnastics.”
“When are we coming back here?”
As part of our exploration of sculpture, we looked at the work of a local sculptor called Matthew Frére-Smith who is none other than Mrs. Ryan’s father! Some of his sculptures are kept at the Sainsbury Centre and can be viewed virtually here: https://www.sainsburycentre.ac.uk/art_object_artist_maker/matthew-frere-smith/
Mrs. Ryan brought in some of her father’s smaller-scale metal sculptures in to show us in class and get the students ready for our upcoming visit to the Sainsbury Centre.
This half-term, artists in Grebes have been exploring the world of sculpture. They have looked at work by Anthony Caro (a British artist who made abstract sculptures out of scrap metal and found objects) and Ruth Asawa (an American sculptor who made wire sculptures. Children have learned about the spectrum of abstract and figurative art, ranging from completely abstract works which do not represent anything from the real world, to semi-abstract works which resemble or suggest real-world subjects, to figurative works depicting real-world subjects. Unsurprisingly, clay has been a favourite medium for our artists! They have sculpted a figurative human head, an abstract human head, a Green Man (after hearing the story in Forest School) and a self-portrait which could be as figurative or abstract as the artist chose. Grebes set up an art gallery in the classroom and invited children from other classes and their parents to view their clay sculptures.
Kingfishers have continued to learn about the parts of a plant and why they need them, this week they have been learning about the flower.
They worked together to build the parts of a flower out of play doh, labelled each part and then explained what each part did.
Our Ukulele Ensemble and Salsa Band both performed at the Norfolk County Music Festival last Friday with excellent results. Our Ukulele Ensemble were given the highest marking of ‘Outstanding’ for what the judge called “an exceptional performance, both artistically and technically.” The confidence of this group comprised of 41 children from Years 4 to 6 grew as the performance went on and the last song, ‘Green, Green Grass’ by George Ezra, was described as having “fantastic confidence and strength of rhythmic playing, particularly on the stops. Love expressive singing. Nice keyboards too.”
Our Salsa Band received ‘Highly commended +’ for “a generally correct and creditable performance with greater evidence of artistic interpretation.” Children also had to persevere through some technical hitches. We are very proud of all the children who took part, for the dedication to practice and their performances on the day. A big thank you goes to Mr Leaver, Mr Bell and Mr Weitz for their support and time in getting the children ready for the performances.
Video links:
Salsa Band: https://fb.watch/qZrDZoeQ0B/
Salhouse Ukulele Ensemble: https://fb.watch/qZs66pb5Ix/
Over the last term Kingfisher class have been learning about many Greek Myths. All the pupils in Kingfisher class have written the story of Theseus and Minotaur. They have all spent time editing and improving their work. Finally they published their stories in a book, which they shared with Coots, Bitterns and Grebes. Well done, Kingfisher class. Everyone enjoyed your stories.
