News and Updates

Category: Community

4 June 2019

Eddington ArtScapers showcase art programme at Houses of Parliament

An Eddington-based arts and education programme is leading the way in combining art and the outdoors to support learning in primary school children.  The ArtScapers scheme was invited to present to MPs and Lords at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Art, Craft and Design in Education. The meeting was co-chaired by Tracy Brabin MP and Nick Trench, Earl of Clancarty.

The APPG discusses issues concerning art, craft and design in education with the aim of finding new approaches that can be shared nationally.

Mayfield Primary School Head teachers Paula Ayliffe and Sarah Stepney presented to the group with   Ruth Sapsed Director of Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI) an arts and well-being charity that run ArtScapers.  They shared the story of the project and how it has enhanced learning and improved the health and well-being of the whole school: students, teachers, parents and community.

Mayfield students Rose Noble and Ella Pounds (aged 8) spoke about their ArtScaper experiences and shared their new manifesto for ArtScapers created by young ArtScapers.

ArtScapers is an arts based education programme commissioned by the University of Cambridge’s North West Cambridge Development, now known as Eddington.

The ArtScapers programme, which has also worked with University Primary School, Eddington and Girton Primary School, places importance on learning outside of the classroom. The scheme has involved teachers and children from 4 to 11 covering topics as wide-ranging as archaeology, space and energy.

Most recently 360 children from Mayfield Primary School explored the idea of what energy looks like and how it moves. The children joined artists Filipa Pereira-Stubbs and Caroline Wendling on a walk into Eddington before sketching ideas and creating a series of giant paper sculptures to hang from the ceiling of the Storeys Field Community Centre.  The day was captured in a short film on the CCI website. [Link available below]

Speaking about the programme Ruth Sapsed said: “It has been a huge privilege to develop this arts programme with Mayfield Primary School. From exploring Eddington as ArtScapers to adventuring all over the school grounds, the ArtScaping journey has led us together to new places and practices.”

The new manifesto created by ArtScapers states: ‘We ask that we can: be free, imagine anything, have fun, share and talk, not rush, move around, be comfortable, try things out and make a mess’

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