News: London Schools Project 2016

I am once again very fortunate to be invited to develop, lead and realize this years autumn schools project in the east end of London, working with the same three schools I have for the last 4 years. The work of these 4 years has been a result of the vision and belief in the value of the arts and creativity in education displayed and passionately driven forward by the Leadership team at Newport primary school, Prue Barnes-Kemp, Lisa McIntyre and Ashley Walker. They have created an opportunity for those so often with few chances to develop a creative identity, a platform on which to discover new skills and bring a voice to the often silent imaginations of so many young people. The 240 odd children I will work with, will again this year explore creatively the UN convention on the rights of the child, seeking to understand what such a convention means to them and their life and why it is important. The subject is in many ways so large as to leave you struggling to comprehend. To help the young people find a route into such a grand theme, the project will approach the subject from the basis of asking what does 'home' mean to you and how is it important. A concept of 'home' and that of a safe place or environment, in some form or other, underpins as much as one third of the articles in the convention. The nature of 'protection' will aswell feed into the creative process. 

My initial ideas can be gleaned from these first few papers tackling the project in my sketchbook.