23/02/13….’Once upon a time’ – it was Arts Week at John Hampden School

ARTS WEEK 2013 at John Hampden School, in Thame, last week, was a fairy tale! The whole school went all ?far, far away in a time long ago?, when dragons roamed the Earth and princesses and knights were commonplace!

The fairy tale theme saw the school hall become an Arthurian castle, populated by fire breathing monsters and evil little goblins, intent on stealing princesses and first borne away! The castle walls were encircled with sharp, thorny bushes which knights on white horses must fight their way through to free the damsels in distress, aided by clever fairies and the feisty princesses themselves, with their inventive use of their crowning glory as a means to escape!

John Hampden School’s Arts Co-ordinators, J.E.Nichols and Clare Field(Arts Co-ordinators) take up the story: “Yet again John Hampden has seen an army of parents, grandparents, governors, guardians, teachers and teaching assistants old and new, volunteer to support the children in their fairy tale artwork – over sixty of them helping to bring our ideas to life!

“Our PTA saved the day with a generous donation of funds to enable the school to ‘pull out all the stops’ and provide a wealth of artistic experiences for the children to enjoy! These ranged from the now obligatory, enormous sculptures that Mr.Eyre helps the children to create, to mosaic shields, flying fairies, giant recycled knights in shining armour, pretty princess hats and the inevitable swords and shields that all well-armed knights are adorned with!

“The staff also set the children the challenge of identifying whose coat of arms is whose, in ?The Honourable Coat of Arms Quiz?, with an arty prize for the winning entry!

“The week proved ?a dream come true? with the happy ending of a Fair-trade Arts Caf