Art Week at Bessemer Grange

During the last week of the last school year, a group of Year 12s spent their lunchtimes and free periods helping the teachers and Reception and Year 1 pupils during Bessemer Grange’s Art Week.  Although we were unable to spend the whole day with them because we also had lessons, during the amount of time we were able to be with them, we saw how much the children enjoyed spending time with the ‘big girls from JAGS’.  Kiki and I helped a Year 1 class printing letters on a piece of fabric using polystyrene stamps and a reception class painting numbers on a flag the following day.

The first day was, in my opinion, the most thought-provoking; we had just rushed from an art lesson and were still carrying our work journals so we offered to show the children what it is like to do ‘grown up’ art.  They were rapt by the images on the page and, having been talkative and boisterous when we first walked in, they suddenly became little angels eager to see what we had created and to ask us questions about how and why we did what we did. 

Their excitement about our art transferred to the prospect of creating their own work and everyone was eager to print their letter as quickly as they could so that they would be able to see their colourful masterpiece on the fabric.  I would like to think that the fact that there were some ‘JAGS girls’ meant that they had fun and did some new and different things during Art Week that they will remember for a long time.

Phoebe Newman, Year 13