Creative Paths Project – Education

Cranmore Integrated Primary School, Finaghy Road North South Belfast
Project: Staff Skills Training in Art
Artist: Caroline Jeffrey
Age group: 8-10
Participants: x 60 pupils, 2 teachers
30 hours, over 12 weeks

This project was conceived with the goal of providing fun and engaging lessons for the pupils in a creative and stimulating environment, at the same time as developing the knowledge and skills of their teachers.  The aim was to make more cross curricular links and promote connected learning experiences for the pupils, linking with the revised NI Primary Curriculum.

The art mediums and techniques teachers wanted to explore were clay, ceramics, fabric and printing. In P5 the focus was clay, and P6 worked with fabric using resist techniques to produce batik designs, wool to make felt, and screen printing. Papier mache and puppet making were also mastered!

Planning between the artist, Caroline Jeffrey and the teachers, was an integral part of the project to make optimum use of classroom time. The teachers preparation and participation in each lesson alongside Caroline meant that by the end of the project they both felt enthusiastic and confident that they could repeat similar processes and projects with their pupils in future, without the artist.

“I have learnt so many new skills and feel confident to implement them in a school setting. I have a better understanding of how simple materials can be used to create fabulous pieces e.g. newspaper and masking tape for mask making.  I feel more confident about allowing the children greater freedom with their thoughts and ideas, and have great ideas for future art projects now!

“Artist, Caroline has a great way of always allowing the children to take the lead and follow their own ideas….within reason!! This meant they thoroughly enjoyed the project and were completely immersed in the creative process at all stages, the result was they developed their skills and confidence too”.
Teacher, Grainne Dobbin

The legacy of the project is that the school has additional art resources for the future, two members of staff received excellent training in a practical classroom environment. Now this can be disseminated to other colleagues so that pupils throughout the school will benefit.

“I think there is incredible potential for this kind of ‘in situ’ teacher training that has a strong element of professional development that has a real far reaching impact on the pupils in years to come”.
Caroline Jeffrey Artist

Clearly, both teachers and pupils gained a lot from the sessions, and the finished art pieces were of a high standard.

[nggallery id=9 template=caption]