The Arts

Whole School Jazz Musician in Residence Project

Take a peep at some of Y6 The Arrival narratives accompanied by John and John on bass and violin. It really helps set the atmosphere.

Whole School Art Mood Board Inspiration and Skills Development

Be Brave Project

This term and next we are lucky enough to have two artists in residence at Larkspur.  Ziad (a professional musician) and Ruth (a professional storywriter) will be visiting our classrooms every week to led and deliver an exciting ‘Bravery’ project.  This project is funded through North Writing North Charity and has been planned to support children’s creativity in the arts and their emotional and mental well being.  

Ruth our storywriter and Ziad our musician…

Pupils will take part in lively and interactive music sessions full of song, dance and musical creativity.  They will create a series of ‘Brave’ songs that will be showcased at the end of the year in a special celebration for the whole school community.

Pupils will also work together to share ideas for their own ‘Bravery’ story.  A story that can be part of the ethos of our school in helping pupils recognise their inner strength and confidence.  

We will also create a Larkspur Arts Newspaper to celebrate and share successes across the school.

Kami Wishes

This film is the result of around 6 months of work, creating origami sculptures with schools and care homes. Each sculpture has 1000 butterflies!

As part of an Arts Council England funded project we have made links with Simon Turner, a professional sculptor whose art work includes the use of Origami.

Every child is the school will write a wish on a single origami square and turn it through careful video instruction into a beautiful origami butterfly.

We plan to make 1000 individual butterflies as a school.  They will then be sent to Simon who will transform them into a beautiful sculpture that we can donate to a local care home.

We can’t wait to see the final creation….

Citizenship Event – Singing with school choir
Children in the choir were given the opportunity to entertain their audience at a very prestigious Citizenship Service at The Civic Centre. They met and chatted to the mayor and were treated to biscuits and juice. A fantastic experience for all! 

Cultural and Seasonal Performances

Performances include our fantastic Christmas Production: Lights, Camel, Action and our wonderful talented guitar and ukulele pupils.

Having regular opportunities to perform is an important part of our music and drama curriculum.  Many of our children have overcome barriers of anxiety this year and surprised themselves with the ability to perform on their own or with others.  Our commitment to The Arts across the curriculum has supported their progress.  We truly value The Arts. 

Year 6 Visit to The Sage, Gateshead

Pupils in Year 6 were lucky enough to be invited to The Sage Music Venue, courtesy of Mish Mash Music Productions.  Children were taken on a private backstage tour of the venue as well the opportunity to listen to The Royal Northern Sinfonia Orchestra rehearsing for their May 4th Star Wars concert.  Wow!  What a treat and what a fantastic opportunity to hear a live orchestra.

Visiting Arts Specialists

At Larkspur we are very fortunate to have a number of arts specialists supporting the delivery of our curriculum.  By giving our pupils the opportunity to work with professional musicians, singers, artists, creative writers, poets and animators, they are exposed to new career paths; inspired and challenged through the development of new knowledge, skills and understanding.

Here are just a few of the visiting specialists we have been lucky enough to meet and work alongside:

• John Parkin: guitar, ukulele, piano, singing specialist (visits weekly)
• Laura Parkin: Professional singer leading Pimlico Opera Primary Robin’s Singing in Schools project (visits weekly)
• Ziad: Musician in residence (Be Brave Project) NWN
• Ruth: Storywriter in residence (Be Brave Project) NWN
• Cheryl: Animator in residence (Be Brave Project) NWN
• Simon Turner: Virtual visiting artist (Kami Wishes)
• Tess Denman Cleaver: Creative Writing Project Led NWN
• Laura Lindow: Playwright NWN
• Amelia Louilli: Poet NWN

Project Success shared Nationally by New Writing North 

Our ‘Be Brave’ project was tremendously successful in supporting our pupils through the difficult terms affecting by the pandemic.  Children were immersed in song, drama, animation and art ad worked collaboratively to produce 3 fantastic productions.  Please click on the write up below to find out more…

https://newwritingnorth.com/journal/being-brave-with-larkspur-community-primary-school-a-gateshead-young-writers-project

Our Artsmark Journey Continues…

We are about to embark on our second Artsmark Application with the hope to achieve the Gold Award.  We have recently completed our Artsmark Statement of Commitment which looks at how we can improve and develop our provision further and provide our pupils with an engaging, bespoke arts curriculum that inspires their creative minds.

Below is a copy of our ‘Statement of Commitment’ which will be used to inform:

• The quality of teaching and learning in the arts
• The broad and balanced curriculum offer
• Staff skills and professional development opportunities
• Resourcing
• Whole school collaborative projects
• Extra curricular opportunities

Key milestones and achievements will be collated and form part of our final assessment.  We can’t wait to get our teeth into developing our curriculum and working towards gold recognition!

Year 5/6 War Time Pudding Recipe Demonstration – learning the step by step skills to devise our own recipe

Clay Fish Mark Making skills development with Year 4/5

Opportunities for early development of Technology skills in Early Years are everywhere…

Artbytes Year 5 Art Exhibition

https://artbytes.co.uk/schools/larkspur-community-primary-school-245

Weekly Singing Sessions

New Writing North Gallery Opening Event

What a great time year 5 and 6 pupils had at the release of their fantastic poetry and wonderful animation. The Shipley Art Gallery welcomed our pupils to the grand launch of their Now and Next creations. Their work will be exhibited in the gallery over the summer term. 

Now and Next Animation Ideas

Children in year 6 enjoyed working alongside Lucy and Lily in the creation of some images that depict the cities of Newcastle and Gateshead.  Using a range of mediums, pupils created some sketches of locally recognised landmarks as well as some smaller images of trees, people and everyday sightings they might see when travelling through the city.

We can’t wait to see some of our ideas in the produced animation.  Watch this space for the final piece.

Technology Light Project

Year 6 pupils have really enjoyed the design and make challenge to create a working set of lights to use in their own chosen festival. Ideas have included Christmas, Halloween and Chinese New Year lights. They have developed initial ideas against a design brief, experimented with circuitry and developed a final design. Take a look at their prototypes and packaging below. 

Poppy Perfection

Children in KS2 have enjoyed developing their pastel skills with these beautiful poppy pictures to mark Remembrance Day.  They have used a variety of shading and stencilling techniques to create these beautiful monochrome pictures with just a hint of poppy red.  How striking!

Printmaking activities on our We Love Larkspur Day

Pupils in KS2 worked together with Mrs Wilding to learn new printmaking skills.  They were introduced to the use of screen printing techniques to create their own inspired artworks.  Mrs Wilding has been developing her own art skills during some training from The Forge and wanted to try out her new skills with our pupils.  Take a look at what they have produced…

Creative Art in Science

As part of the year 6 science curriculum we are currently hoping to achieve our Bronze RSPB Wild Challenge Award.  As part of this exciting challenge we are creating our own wildflower pots.  These will be planted, cared for and enjoyed by wildlife in our school grounds.  We’re excited to see what the flowers look like.

Pupil Voice Music 2024

Children were really eager to share their enjoyment and appreciation of the musical opportunities we provide our pupils from Early Years to Year 6.  Take a look at their responses and our next steps.

PHSE Class Contract He’art’ work

Pupils enjoyed discussing how they can work in harmony with their peers over the course of the year. Their heart prints have been made into a class canvas to mark our commitment to working together as a class. 

Weekly Wellbeing Wednesday Art Sessions

As we welcomed back children after our third lockdown we wanted to do something really special with the whole school to support they wellbeing and give them the opportunity to see children in other classes and be involved in a collaborative project together.

As part of our wellbeing focus Mrs Liddle shares a carefully selected book in her headteachers assembly every Monday.  It is from this book that we take inspiration and create an afternoon of art inspired by the illustrations.

Miss Hall hosts this weekly session via google classroom where she shares new art skills and techniques using a range of mediums whilst developing new language.  

Books we’ve explored so far include: