Inglewood Junior School broaden their artistic horizons

Inglewood Junior School put on various activities, covering everything from music to storytelling this week.

Giving students a taste of art expertise was Rosie Galloway-Smith, who was holding a class for year five.

Rosie is an artist whose work focusses on emotionality through materiality, looking at ideas such as reality and fakeness.

The sessions at Inglewood looked primarily at mono-printing and clothes.

Mono-printing is a form of printing that can only be made once, unlike most printmaking which allows for multiple originals.

Teacher of year five’s class two, Claire Salt said: “It has been fantastic. The art work just gives the children a different perspective, a different set of experiences they wouldn’t normally have the chance to do in school.

“We have also done artistic responses to music.”

She added: “Having an real artist in there with them is an incredible opportunity.

“It is different for them, it is a different way of looking at the world.”

Josh Jackson from BlueJam Arts in Penrith was on hand to teach students about about leadership and working as a team, as children took it in turns to lead the sessions and play drums and maracas in unison.

BlueJam Arts offers a wide range of workshops, sessions and activities, covering a wide range of areas, including film, video, music and photography.

At Inglewood the session was all about music, something which the children loved.

Eleven-year-old Kyaran Hale, from Harraby, had a favourite part of the week so far: “Going to Lockerbie Manor. We did kayaking, rafting and paddleboarding. It’s been good.”

Amelia Ritson, also 11, added: “It’s been really fun. I got to play the drums with all my classmates.

“This [music session] has been my favourite class.”

Marcus Kirk, 11, also from Harraby said: “I have had fun making noise.

“I have enjoyed coming back to school to see my friends. I would prefer them [these type of sessions] to normal lessons.”

Organising the week were music coordinator Lydia Turner and art coordinator Janine Barnsley.

Mrs Turner said: “Every half-term we work on a two year rolling program. Last term we had personal, social, health and economic, this is the arts week.

“It has been a mixture of music and arts - a programme to follow through the week based on the stories of a particular piece of music.

“They listen to a piece of music and explore the story around the music.”

She continued: “For example, the year fives have been looking at [Russian composer Mussorgsky’s] A Night on the Bare Mountain.

“They listened to the music at different intervals and looked at the story behind it.”

Year six students at the school looked at Romeo and Juliet.

Mrs Turner added: “Year three looked at [Norwegian composer Grieg’s] In the Hall of the Mountain King. The pupils have looked at a different approach to music and art. It gives them a fresh perspective.

“We’ve also got the youngsters in and we have been taking them out to do things they would never normally do in school - looking at different curriculum areas.”

Legendary Grasmere storyteller Taffy Thomas also gave students a taste of stories from a different perspective.

Mr Thomas - who has been telling stories since the 1970s - was given an MBE in the 2001 New Years Honours List for his services to storytelling and charity.

He is currently artistic director of Tales in Trust, the Northern Centre for Storytelling, based at The Storyteller’s Garden in Grasmere.

Taffy is also a patron for the Society of Storytelling.

The latest Ofsted report carried out at the school rated it as ‘good’, with the inspection taking place in May 2016. This inspection was an upgrade on the previous assessment, which concluded that the school required improvement.

To find out more about the activities BlueJam Arts offer visit www.bluejamarts.org.

To learn more about Rosie Galloway-Smith and her work go to www.rosiegallowaysmith.co.uk.

Further information about Taffy Thomas can be accessed by visiting www.taffythomas.co.uk.