A group of Year 10 students have been working in collaboration with Arts Council funded Circus Theatre Company, 'Circo Rum Ba Ba' and elderly residents at Churchill House on an intergenerational project.
The arts project started with a workshop at school (last half term) which was delivered by a member of the company and was all about the theme of 'age'. Students then visited elderly residents at Churchill House (alongside the theatre company members), where they had discussions, sang songs, looked at and shared photographs, examined old newspapers and magazines, shared stories and made a collage which includes or represents everyone who was there. We have been given the framed collage to display in school and a closer look at the final piece is featured in the header above.
Finally, students met with the group again to catch up and to watch and discuss a brilliant piece of pop-up theatre together and then to socialise.
The students showed such kindness, maturity and compassion with the older members of the community and in return were awarded a special group Hot Chocolate with the Head where they chatted about the project and how it made them feel. Showing the collage to Mrs Baker, the students talked through the significance of the images and the people within it. One student, Peter, said of the gift:
'Miss, I think the collage represents the Varndean spirit!'
Special thanks to Ms Bartley, Ms Smallwood, Mr Trott and Mr Berliner who ran and supported the project so well, and of course to the students themselves:
Molly
Ella
Phoebe
Arlo
Peter
Ihsan
Astrid
Wanda
Jodie
Poppy
Lucy
