Bowling Park Primary School - “Routes and Roots”

Artwork from Bowling Park Primary School's “Routes and Roots” project

Routes and Roots

The "Routes and Roots" project was undertaken by Bowling Park Primary School, Bradford in the CP change school programme and used different art forms to develop and explore ideas of identity.

Enquiry Question

Three central questions:

• Who are we?
• Where are we?
• Where are we going?

Programme Theme

These questions were explored both on a philosophical and practical level, by making a ‘book of themselves’, an activity which developed children’s emotional literacy alongside basic art techniques.
Teachers and children developed their work by using facilities in digital media and mixing, and 3D sculpture created with objects found by children.

'The book of themselves' and paper sculptures were the product and output lead by weekly sessions in which children shared their ideas through discussion and observation artists’ books and artefacts.

'A playground for ideas' - they then prepared their own ideas books for the forthcoming weeks.

Bowling Park Primary began with their aims and aspirations to bring together "One School, one success", for a school which resides on two sites separated by 0.7 miles.

Focus Group

90 children in Year 4 classes

Key Outcomes

The project has taught new skills and developed children’s emotional literacy.

Staff: "Previously the children had been passive learners, and now are more actively engaged. The difference is palpable."

Year 4 Pupil: "it's good to see teachers trying the same things as the children."

The project was rated "Ten out of ten" by an encouraged pupil who said "teachers used ideas even when the artists were not there."

Sustainable Impact

• The schools is progressing with its objective: to breed a culture of children taking risk, in turn developing confidence through a more in-depth engagement with learning.
• The idea has been fundamental and accurate in terms of taking the school forward and great inroads have been made.
• The school is aiming to transform into a more creative place by changing mindsets and using their long term goals to think visually, mentally, spiritually and holistically - about art as the vehicle to do so.