Overview: The group followed the Discover programme both in school and for homework, over a 10 week period in Autumn term. The children were set research tasks connected to the Discover booklet for homework and brought this to school to feed into the work they did in the booklet in class. As the Discover programme is quite broad in scope, we were able to link it to the arts module the children were already completing, on Paul Klee, while also exposing them to a range of other art forms, artists and movements.
How did the students benefit from doing Arts Award? The children enjoyed having the freedom to bring knowledge of a variety of art forms into their learning in school. It gave them the chance to realise the connection between art in school and other broader art forms for example, film-making, make-up artists, photography and more. Children were able to connect art to things that they were interested in already, which made it more personal to them.
As part of our module we looked at Christopher Dresser, as the Dorman’s Museum has a large collection of his work. The children enjoyed the local connection of looking at this designer.
Part of the Discover Award encouraged children to share their work with family members or other children in school. This was an aspect of the award they really enjoyed, as the children really enjoy sharing their work and receiving positive feedback. This built their confidence in their own work and enhanced the enjoyment of the experience.