Inspired by Catherine Raynor’s book ‘Augustus and his smile’, Year 1 has explored the story and our beautiful world through play, paints, press prints and dance. Our school grounds provided the natural materials to create beetles; card, collage, fabric, buttons and sequins were imaginatively used to create exotic birds and our own unique reflections inspired our wonderful, smiling self-portraits!

The possible mountains and oceans Augustus crossed in order to search for his smile were found in an atlas; riddles of sea creatures read and then watched; and finally our own stories planned, shared and written.

There have been many challenges along the way-especially in dance. Year 1 had to work effectively as a team in order to bring Miss Allison’s challenging yet inspired choreography to life. Collaboration and active listening were essential so that movements were in time to the music and the many elements correctly sequenced.

Baking with Mrs Walker produced some delicious tiger buns which were very much enjoyed by all on the Friday celebrations. Well done Year One for working incredibly hard throughout your class fortnight.

These are some of the comments from proud parents, grandparents and interested adults who were asked what they really liked:

“It was a lovely afternoon seeing the children’s work. It made a real difference splitting the class in two. It’s lovely to see the school spending time doing the arts-very refreshing.”

“The enthusiasm of the children and the staff. The beautiful art space and seeing all the work. It was all wonderful.”

“The range of the things-the art studio and getting to join in and do some art together, enjoying a tasty treat in the café and seeing work in the classroom. The dance and explanation was also a real treat.”

“The fact so many different mediums have been used to teach (dancing, art, baking etc.)-there was something for everyone…How inspired Tommy has been over the past two weeks. He has brought a lot of the learning home-wrote his own story and created artwork.”