Bessemer Grange Primary School – Children’s Art Project

Each year, the Art Department organises an art project in conjunction with staff and pupils at Bessemer Grange primary 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.