Art Week at Ifield school, Gravesend

Report on Ifield School Arts Week April 29th to May 3rd 2024

Theme for the week – Film

For many years Ifield School in Gravesend has had an Arts Week for pupils and their families and this year the Arts Society Gravesend decided to support the School’s Arts Week. 

We applied for a Community Grant of £250 and the money funded a visit to the school during it’s Arts Week by an Arts Company called Magic Lantern.  An inspirational lady, Helen Anderson, worked with children in the senior part of the school, giving to eight different groups of children with varying degrees of ability, interactive sessions on art appreciation with the theme of “Jungles and Rainforests”.  Among the artworks used was Henri Rousseau’s painting “Tiger in a Tropical Storm” and Senaka Senanayake’s “Rainforest Splendour”. 

The theme for the week was “Films” and the students and staff made their own films, anthese were shown to the parents on Friday 3rd May.  The admin team also made a film “Sister Act” and when I visited, to my surprise, they were all dressed as nuns!

On the final day I was invited to judge with one of the School Governors a competition of artwork based on the films they had made.

The remainder of the money we donated was spent on little “Oscar Statues” and all the pupils received one, with a special prize for the 1st prize winner who made a wonderful model inspired by the film “Frozen”.  It was an inspirational week.

Art is often used as therapy for these children whose needs are very profound.  It was a joy to see them so engaged.

Helen Beck

Community and Young Arts Representative