Combined Truro Schools Art Project

The Art Department participates in the Combined Truro Schools Art Project (an independent and state school collaborative partnership) where workshops are provided by the schools involved, 5 in all (3 state and 2 independent schools), working alongside professional artists. It is aimed at year 9 pupils throughout each school. It starts in September and finishes in March culminating in an exhibition.   

Each year the theme of the project changes and requires participating teachers to develop a new scheme of work to deliver to a target year group. This process never fails to be a positive experience often challenging staff to develop new ideas and skills, sharing good practice and perspective, as part of their professional development. 

The wider community are able to visit the exhibition and it provides a platform for schools to share and celebrate much of the great creative work often hidden away from the communities they serve.

 

Aims

The project aims to give pupils and staff the opportunity to work with professional artists, to share ideas and to benefit from workshops delivered by the partner schools.  

The project culminates in an exhibition, giving the schools a wider platform to share and celebrate the pupils work.

Background

All the heads of art in the Truro Area got together, invited by Janie Toy from Richard Lander school, to create a joint collaborative project to celebrate the work of Richard Lander, ending with an exhibition in Lemon Street Gallery.

The first exhibition was held on 11th February 2005, every year since then schools in Truro have collaborated to provide year 9 pupils with a chance to work on a project, involving workshops hosted by the partner schools, and input by professional artists, leading up to a celebratory exhibition to which members of the local community were invited.

Resources

Each school hosts workshops over the 5 - 6 months of the project. Truro School staff play a leading role in the oversight of the group - the Head of Art being the Chair of the group, and an Art teacher acting as Treasurer to the group.

Impact

Every year 8 or year 9 pupil in every school takes part in exploring the topic. We organise joint workshops together and as heads of art we all know each other very well. Pupils will get exposure to artists and workshops they would never have the chance of doing.

The partnership faciltiates working with artists, collaboratively working with teachers and pupils and a final result of working towards an exhibition where their work is displayed to the public.

Another outcome is the breaking down of barriers between schools.

Pupil Involvement

Year 8 and 9 pupils.

Artwork provided by 12 -14 year olds.

 

Frequency

This activity is an ongoing activity.

The frequency is annually.

It will continue to the foreseeable future.