A Principal Blog

I have long felt that we (educational professionals) should be embracing and using new technologies and exploring the opportunities offered by web2 technology - its why I write a blog - to 'model' what I think is important if I can. So it was good to see that I am not alone and that the Principal of Chalfonts Community College is also blogging. See Sue Tanner's blog here.

Artists and Illustrators: a wasted resource?

Spent a couple of days in a primary school last week - based in the school library. Apart from the fact that it was good to be back in a primary classroom (even sitting on the floor with year one) it was interesting to be reminded of all the brilliant children's book illustrators there are. I always used to remind primary teachers of the wealth of resources and examples of artists' work they have available in their libraries. However, too often 'artist' means dead, white, male, 19th century painters usually from Paris apart from Van Gogh the well known victorian.

Childrens' book illustrators are artists with work which is probably more accessable to children than Toulouse Lautrec and working from texts can provide a richness and sense of purpose which will stimulate childrens imagination and creativity. The techniques illustrators use are often rooted in a free use of materials that we would love children to emulate.

Carols, Culture and Creativity

Just been to the Mandeville School carol concert at St Mary's Church. A really good evening with a programme that ranged from Islamic Nasheeds, raga through Bollywood dancing to Silent night with all the best carols in between. Also really good to hear (as a visual learner I was going to say 'see') teacher colleagues original arrangements and personal creativity. There are times when I really miss being a teacher in a school.

Primary Sculpture

I saw a really good sculpture in a primary school recently (Long Crendon).

The design came from children and it was made by a local sculptor welding the shapes cut from assorted pipes. Brilliant rusted orange colours. It is about values and the leaves that hang from the branches contain words by the children.

I've not seen anything like it in schools but it did remind me of the wonderful African 'tree of life' sculpture welded entirely from old guns, pistols and ammunition clips that was in the British Museum a couple of years ago.

Gormley and Chalfonts at Saatchi

Just a brilliant evening and thanks to Chalfonts Community College for inviting me. Went to the private view of the Saatchi Schools Prize where James Coffey a student at CCC was in the shortlist. The work was a delightful and simple animation entitled Miracle. Following the theme of low tec but sensitive I have added my mobile phone photo of Antony Gormley announcing the prizes and praising the students and their teachers. Technically rubbish but rather Gormleyesque in a modest sort of way I thought.

We (teachers) speculated that for the rest of his life James will visit the Saatchi Gallery and privately note that his work had also hung on that wall in that spot which is currently displaying an Emin or whatever. Evenings like this make it worthwhile. Well done Chalfonts Art Department.

When I were a lad

Spent an evening at a 6th form exhibition (Chalfonts CC). It was for parents and was celebrating the work from a weekend residential course spent in London and Brighton. The work was excited and exciting. But the most noticeable characteristic was the sheer visual maturity of the work. Completed work and sketchbook pages showed a sophisticated curiosity about ideas and compositions, issues and textures. There was also a delighted acceptance of innovative and challenging contemporary artists such as Anish Kapoor at the RA and an artists' collective in Brighton.

It left me feeling slightly envious, and humbled, reflecting on how things had changed since I started teaching; when ten weeks with the school skull, wine bottle and drape was the height of 6th form sophistication. But that was forty years ago. Some of these students had taken 3,000 photographs over three days using a camera with a telephoto lens that I had not been able to afford until I was in my thirties. No wonder they were visually sopisticated and aware. It were not like that when I were a lad.

Testing the 'C' boundary

In a daily routine of emails and meetings it was a pleasure to join art teachers and just talk about teaching art and students: like the yr 10 student whose sole expectations from life were "make up, a baby and love" probably in that order.

We met to review and share work at the boundary of GCSE 'C' and 'D'. There were ten teachers from four schools. In the event all schools entered for Edexcel examinations and so we were unable to compare results from different exam boards. Encouragingly we found that there was consistency in the samples from these four schools. The 'D's and 'C's did correspond and it was possible to discern a consistent order of merit across the schools. It was interesting to note the defining difference between C and D grades. It seemed to be, not so much in technical expertise or formal fluency but in the intellectual curiousity and maturity of the student. Work at a D grade seemed to be shallower and monochromatic in scope whereas work at a C grade suggested a narrative which was deeper and richer.

We noted that during recent Edexcel training teachers were told to ignore changes to specifications and in effect carry on as they had always done. In addition there was some agreement that, this year, moderators were encouraging teachers not to emphasise the absolute need for writing and to accept that visual analysis and reflection could demonstrate critical evaluation and understanding.

We noted that the similarities were far more obvious than the differences between schools. Characteristics of all work were: brainstorming, open ended experimentation in sketchbooks, references to several artists and consequent stylistic experiments, use of photographic references and the internet. Often the final piece was the weakest and the preparation seemed to contain many hours of work. This prompted a discussion about the possibility of students spending a disproportionate amount of time working and reworking development pages in their journals rather than spending time creating successfully realised works of art.

Many students had worked from figures with varying degrees of success. I mentioned a website I had seen earlier in the day featuring the work of the dance company Philobulous. A short brilliant piece by two dancers creating an extraordinary sequence of shapes and combinations using just two bodies. Certainly worth looking at for ideas about the use of figures.

Finally one really good idea a teacher's small assessment note attached to work with a paper clip which contained comments - 'A good thing is...', Could be better if...', Relevant to Assessment Objective AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4'. Thanks to Kirsty for that. And to the teachers of Sir William Ramsay Arts College, Holmer Green School, Amersham School and Chalfonts Community College.