We have numerous links with Bessemer Grange primary school.  Pupils in Year 9, Design & Technology have designed a built a mural for the school and e ach year, the Art Department organises an art project in conjunction with staff and pupils at the school. This provides Year 13 pupils with an opportunity to work closely with Year 5 pupils, exploring materials and constructing artworks. This popular course allows children and young adults to work collaboratively in the process of making and allows Year 13 pupils to see first hand that developing a project idea and delivering it in the lesson are two quite different experiences!

At the beginning of the course, Year 13 volunteers from both James Allen’s Girls’ School and Dulwich College meet to devise and develop new ideas for projects. Pupils are asked to consider the making of the envisaged final piece, in stages, the timing and pace, and the layout of the classroom and the number of pupils; most importantly, trying to anticipate the questions that the pupils may ask.

Both older and younger pupils learn considerably from each other during these projects, which have so far included: weaving, modeling, painting, creating mosaics, and construction. Themes have included Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Decorated Faces, and Ancient Roman and Greek Mosaics.

We have received extremely positive feedback from both the pupils and staff at Bessemer Grange Primary School.

Art Week at Bessemer Grange

The children of Bessemer Grange and their Art teacher, Rebecca Benjamin, issued an attractive invitation which some creative Year 12 pupils accepted: to join them in making art for their Art Week at the end of the summer term. It worked for everyone: the children had one to one attention from someone who wasn’t a teacher but who was exciting in a different way, and the Year 12 pupils, as Phoebe says, enjoyed the immediate impact of their influence.

Please click here for report and photos. 

Tree-Planting with Bessemer Grange

Dave Strong, who looks after the historic Botany Gardens at JAGS, is teaching children from Bessemer Grange School how to plant trees. Dave has plans to share our beautiful grounds with other local primary school children, running activities such as pond-dipping and nature trails. Please click here for photos