A Moment in Time - Highfield Nursery and Art Eats Events with ceramicist Ange Lester

What did we do?

A clay tile installation for the main entrance to the school. Each child and invited guests made a clay tile to that the artist then added graffito techniques to the children’s mark making, glaze and fired the tiles.

Every tile that was made, is included in the project.

This was a new partnership for Highfield. Although clay is a medium we use regularly with the children, we have never had the ability to fire the creations made by the children.

Every child and member of staff in the school took part in the project. There were additional invited guests including governors and representatives of those who supported the school during the Covid lockdown. This included site workers, such as Vertas, local councillors, representatives of IOA

The children designed and created their own tiles.

Summary of impact

The project has enabled all the children to take part in a whole centre project. To learn new techniques for using clay and an opportunity to celebrate the school and all we achieved during the Covid 19 lockdowns, Once installed in the main entrance, the project will be a permanent reminder of that ‘moment in time’ where the world stood still and early years settings remained open to support our youngest children.

The project met the following “Hullaballoo22″outcomes:

Outcome 1: Education providers enrich the cultural and creative curriculum in their settings

The opportunity to follow through a project from beginning to end, including involvement in using glazes and firing of tiles. The project provided a long lasting installation for the school.

Outcome 3: Arts and cultural providers attract more children and young people from under-represented communities to take part the cultural offer in Ipswich

Every child at the school had the opportunity to create a tile

Outcome 6: Education settings develop as hubs for high quality arts and cultural experiences

The opportunity to build new relationships with ArtEat and Ange Leinster and develop ongoing projects.

Outcome 8: New partnerships develop between community organisations/groups and arts providers

The opportunity to build new relationships with ArtEat and Ange Leinster and develop ongoing projects.

What would we do differently

The time needed to complete the project was underestimated. Some invited guests could not make it to the nursery on the chosen week and although e tried to accommodate everyone, the reality was that not everyone who wanted to take part could be involved.

Are there parts of the project you will continue to develop and deliver?

We have now secured separate funding to install the tiles at the entrance to the school, ensuring a long lasting reminder of the impact of Covid on our community and the support of the IOA throughout that time. Children are more confident in using clay and we have developed links with local artists who can support future projects at the school. We are also developing links for local art students to come into the school and work on art projects with our young children.

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