St George in 3D

Pupils at Air Balloon Hill Infant School in St George worked with artist Anna Oliver to develop a 3D map of the area in a project aimed at developing speaking and listening skills.

(This article was researched and written by Year 10 student, Hannah Suchecki (aged 15), who joined Creative Partnerships, Bristol for a week of work experience in July 2004. Hannah visited Air Balloon Hill Infant School to see the map, interviewed the artist, took photographs and wrote this article for our website.)

Pupils at Air Balloon Hill Infant School in St George worked with artist Anna Oliver to develop a 3D map of the area in a project aimed at developing speaking and listening skills.

Anna interviewed pupils about locations and the different places they have been and then designed and made the map with the help of some students. The pupils also made small models of animals, trees and people to put on the map. These contributions made a creative project which the pupils can be proud of.

Anna started working with the pupils in February 2004 and the project was developed over 54 days, until it was finished in July 2004.

Creative Partnerships' unique approach to working with schools enabled Anna Oliver to listen to what the children wanted to contribute. Originally, the project was going to be web or computer based but as the pupils are so young, aged 4-7, a 3D option was chosen. This meant that the children would have something to show for themselves which they could easily see and touch, not just look at it.

The map is made out of a large polystyrene cube, which has a thick layer of plaster on top. It has been made to look like the surface area of St George with the streets and main buildings painted on the surface. Buttons, which when pressed say the children's answers to an interview with Anna, are spread evenly across the different areas of the map. The map can be taken apart into four separate parts so the buttons which are in the middle can be pressed and listened to easily.

The project has been very successful as Anna explains: 'The children thoroughly enjoyed doing this project with me and they have started to build on their speaking and listening skills in the process.'

The project aimed to get pupils working with an artist and make a creative map which will provide the school with ideas on how to make learning fun while building up the pupils' skills.

The 3D map is now a valuable ongoing resource for the school. The map is not completely finished so that future pupils can make new models and add these to the map or swap them with existing models. The headmaster wants to share the map with other schools so they can see what has been achieved.