Context:

The project worked with years 7 & 8 in a Secondary school. The school is in an affluent area, however a lot of the students ravel in by bus from lower Caversham, an area of deprivation, many are pupil premium and on free school meals. There were two girls and five boys.

This project was a first for the school which had not worked with Arts Award or Readipop before. They were keen to give some of their Pupil Premium students additional activity that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford, and to help them gain a qualification as many are low academic achievers. The school wanted it to be a mixed arts project

Approach:

Sessions took place weekly after school, originally they were intended to be 90 minutes however as most of the young people needed to catch the bus home they were reduced to 60 minutes.

Each session focussed on getting the young people to take part in a different arts activity, by the end of the project they had done sessions in:

  • Music
  • Ukulele
  • Djembes
  • Musical research
  • Photography
  • Poetry & Lyric writing
  • Presenting & filming

The activities were designed to link in with the Arts Award, as well as give the young people a chance to try a range of different art forms. For example when having a go at film making the young people researched their favourite artist or musician, wrote a short talk about them, and then filmed each other giving the talk.

Final portfolios were complied by the Arts Award Advisor, they consisted of paper work and DVDs of the young people’s film & presentation.

Readipop provided all equipment for the session to take place.

Sessions planning was done in advance with the school teacher, the session were then reviewed weekly by the workshop leader and the Arts Award Advisor.

Issues arising, improvements and advice:

  • After school session meant that some young people were very easily excitable, one of the workshop leaders felt this could have been better managed by the teacher.
  • Following the session one workshop leader has suggested that for future improvements try and make the sessions accessible by drawing on popular culture.
  • The teacher was initially concerned about how much this may impact on workload, however having an external organisation provide resources and take care of assessment meant this proved not to be the case.

Impact:

All seven young people achieved Arts Award, a first for the school.

Feedback was positive and the teacher would like to do more Arts Award work (although he is changing schools). The project has built a relationship between Readipop and the school, with Readipop returning on another project in October 2015, where appropriate young people on that project will also be offered Arts Award.

School feedback says that the project enabled students to experience things that their home backgrounds, nor school education would necessarily let them experience. Opened their eyes to several different types of art that they might not have considered or known about before.

Comments:

“I would like to undertake another arts awards project as I think it is a good opportunity for young people to increase their confidence and draw links between the arts and their home lives, developing their emotional literacy and critical thinking.” Michael Vidon – Workshop Leader (Poetry)

“Don’t worry about if this will impact on your current workload. It is minimal and the result is definitely worth it… It was a very simple thing to manage, Readipop were very good with communication both with me and with the students involved.” Tom Harte – Teacher, Chiltern Edge School