Acton - A Sense of Place
Exhibition and Celebration, Thursday 29th April 2010
Over the last term we have been working on four projects with London Transport Museum and A New Direction as part of our Change School programme of creative learning.
The unifying theme of the projects is Acton – a sense of place. We have explored what Acton means to us through the eyes of young people, teachers, artists and parents. We have been helped to express what we discovered by staff at the Museum, artists and film makers. We have learned new skills, made new relationships and uncovered a sense of the place in which we live and work.
Project 1
Year 11 students have worked with 100 Reception children from Berrymede Infants School.
The project started with a trip to the Depot, then, with the help of an artist, Rachel Lillywhite, the children investigated the area around their school and their homes and how they travel around. You will see lots of images of feet, fantastic vehicles, tyre tracks, maps, collages, drawings, prints and mark making. Year 11 students helped them in their explorations and acted as facilitators, teachers and friends. They also helped to put the exhibition together and organise the event. Their work will be accredited through ASDAN Youth Awards.
Project 2
Using the London Transport Museum’s collection of posters as the starting point, Year 7 Art students explored the buildings of Acton through photography, drawings in oil pastels and print making. This strand was led by Katie Potter. Students experienced a silkscreen workshop with Sally Gilford, a commercial printer, and will visit a print studio later in the summer term.
Project 3
Year 7 students explored key concepts of travel and transport in Humanities and produced posters based on their investigations. This strand was led by Sheila Wills, with input from Ian Coles from the London Transport Museum.
Project 4
Stacey MacSorley worked with Sian Thurgood from the London Transport Museum and Chocolate Films on a family learning strand. A small group of students and their parents took video cameras out and about in Acton at the weekends and produced a short video diary about their personal views and experience of Acton Town. Chocolate Films provided filmmaking training and editing. The final short film is called “Where is Acton Town?”
This is year 2 of our partnership work with the London Transport Museum and A New Direction. It enables us to work with our community, deliver our Media Arts and Applied Learning specialisms and embed rich and deep learning experiences in the curriculum. New projects will be designed and delivered in the next academic year.