It’s A Small World at John Hampden Primary School

THIS year’s Artsweek at John Hampden School took pupils on a Fantastic Voyage, with the theme, It’s a Small World, inspired by an ant’s eye view of life!

With the school’s very own supersized ant called Dec, the school hall was transformed into a giant garden to help him feel at home, with monumental grass and mammoth flowers. Huge bugs populated the skies, with massive garden debris filling the land. The Year Six children had that shrinking feeling, and could be seen ducking between the colossal obstacles and riding the huge bugs in true ’Honey I shrunk The Kids’ Style.

A range of artistic activities enabled the growing transformation, including larger than life ladybird biscuits, buzzing big bottle bugs, creative clay and plasticine scaled up sculptures, spectacular stained glass insects, beautiful colour mixing butterflies, soft toy sewn bugs and butterflies, as well as the enduring favourites of painting, drawing and junk modelling all things supersized. The children also carried the theme on in class with a cross curricular week inspired by that shrinking feeling.

Friday’s dress-up day saw the school and its inhabitants metamorphosis into the Ugly Bug Ball, with an array of ants, a score of scary spiders, a bunch of beautiful butterflies, some big beetles, lots of large ladybirds, a swarm of buzzing bees and a gaggle of great grasshoppers!

Jackie Nichols, Arts Coordinator at the school, explained: “As always John Hampden has seen an art army of parents, grandparents, governors, carers, artists, teachers and teaching assistants, old and new, and volunteers to support the children in their massive artwork, with a multitude of helpers (nearly 60!), who came to help bring our ideas to life!

“The John Hampden PTFA provided the means to fund the week, with a generous donation which enabled the school to provide a multitude of artistic experiences and resources for the children to enjoy! The staff also set the children a challenge in the Artsweek Quiz, where pupils had to match a Small World creation to the right staff member who made it, in the ‘Whose Small World Is This?’ competition, complete with an arty prize for the winning entries!

“Well done as well to Niamh Whitworth and William Franklin for being the crowned winners of the Artsweek shield for their participation this year.

Jackie concluded: “At the end of the week JHS friends and family were pre-shrunk to enable them to enter our gigantic, glorious garden of art at the Friday Artsweek Fair-Trade Café finale.

Honey we shrunk the kids, made friends with big bugs and hid within our giant garden, but all will be returned to normal size over half term at JHS, and we will enjoy our hall in the weeks to come as a reminder of our supersized mini adventure!”