Today, the Year 5 children had the fantastic experience of visiting the Sainsbury Centre, which tied in with the History topic we are currently studying: the ancient Mayans!

When we arrived, we were met by Becca (who works for the Sainsbury Centre facilitating school visits) and Marnie (an artist who led our incredible session)!  They explained what we would be doing and the children sat so quietly and listened very carefully to all the instructions.

Then, Becca and Marnie took us up to the Gallery and showed us some of the artwork from the Mayan period, alongside other more modern artwork inspired by the Mayans.  The children were given small, folded books of paper and asked to look closely at these objects, making sketches of the patterns and figures they saw.  They spent several minutes studiously observing different sculptures before they were given a second task – to show depth in their drawings using shading as if the image had been carved.  The children were so focused during this section and produced some excellent ideas that would serve them well in the upcoming session in the studio!

The children gathered in the studio for the next part and were given green wax tablets to imitate jade. They were also provided with tools, gloves, and protective goggles. Their goal was to create a 3D relief using some of the patterns they had seen in the gallery (and drawn in their books) on their wax tablet. To start with, they found it quite hard, but they soon found their groove. The end results were very impressive!

After this, the children had a chance to spend some time outside sketching the sculptures, the ziggurats and the park’s beautiful surroundings.  

The children all had an amazing day and were perfectly behaved. Thanks to Ms Barker, Mrs Boyce, and Mrs Forsdick for supporting them, to the Sainsbury Centre for their amazing sessions, and to the Friends for helping us with the cost of the coach!