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Highfield Maths & Art Week; children listen attentively in class at Highfield Primary School in Plymouth - Creative Partnerships, Real Ideas Organisation (Photographer: Gemma Ward)

Area Delivery Organisation: RIO - Forest of Dean, Bristol, Cornwall & Plymouth

Highfield Maths and Art week

Creatively linking maths and art was the challenge for Highfield school during the third phase of their Change Schools programme. Working with artist Caroline Cleave and film maker Hannah Backland the children and teachers worked collaboratively to plan and deliver one of the core curriculum subjects in one exciting and memorable week.

Moving away from the main themes that teachers had already built into their rolling programme would have meant teachers playing catch up and the aim of the week was to focus on what would normally be taught at that time of the school year. Through careful dialogue, negotiation, and more importantly trust, both Caroline and Hannah worked out a programme of exciting events which would involve working in new mathematical ways with the whole school.

Key stage one children used their knowledge of shape to explore Picasso portraits using a power point, pastels and collage. The understanding by the early years of how Picasso deconstructed the face into shape and line and making informed decisions about their own work was amazing. This work was also underpinned by Key stage two children sharing their knowledge with this age group to produce games and shape challenges. Mixing the two key stages proved successful on many levels and helped to build individuals confidence and a sense of responsibility whilst still showing and sharing basic mathematical skills.

A Roman theme was the basis for Key stage two learning about different number systems, ways of measuring and symmetry. Fabulous Roman sandals were designed and created using the children’s knowledge of roman numerals. This involved carefully converting measurements of individual’s feet and construction using strips and brass studs. Trainer brand names of today were changed to Roman equivalents for example ` Nikius` and `Rebokius` which the children loved. The Roman theme continued with the design and construction of enormous Roman pillars which had to be symmetrical and show an understanding of purpose and design.

Escher was the study of focus for years five and six, finding out who he was and how he felt about school. They discovered his love of tessellation and enjoyed working out their own ways of creating Escher shapes. The young people then produced a large scale pieces of work in monochrome which expressed their understanding of his work. In the final assembly their finished canvases were met with gasps of amazement by the school community which included parents and governors. It was thrilling to see the children who found this more challenging, persevering, growing in confidence and rising to the challenge of working in new ways.

It was important that the whole week was documented so the whole school could see and share what they had been doing. This was done through a roving film crew made up of fully costumed Romans, artists and interviewers from all year groups who wove an amazing story around the maths activities of the week. The group filmed, interviewed and edited this piece of work so they had complete ownership of it .The result was a captivating film which totally captured the enjoyment shown on faces and the learning that was taking place throughout the week.

Through the finished outcomes and snatches of dialogue between individuals whilst being filmed, fully engrossed in their work, it was easy for both the teachers, artists and film makers to evaluate the whole experience. Teaching assistant and project manager Gemma Ward said: “It’s been a really busy week; it was lovely. The school is already very creative but we’ve been looking at ways of making subjects like maths more creative.”