Lucy Wharton
Art is a popular subject for many students at LVS Oxford and the school’s smaller class sizes and one-to-one assistance helps pupils progress. Most of the activities in art at the school are sensory-based, which allows the students to experiment with colour, textures and patterns.
“We aim to make the classes fun, and our students’ art tends to be really eye-catching. We have exciting equipment for the pupils to use, like our heat press machine, which allows our artists to transfer an image onto a surface, like a t-shirt, bag or to create stickers. Our Year 7s are obsessed with it! They love the fact they can design something for transfer and operate the heat press themselves. It gives them that element of control, which they really enjoy,” says Lucy.
“I love working at LVS Oxford. Everyone here is always open to new ideas and hearing others opinions, and there is a lot of care for the staff here.”
Sewing machines are also popular, with pupils making their own items. Each year, the students take part in an enterprise project that sees them creating items for the school sales, which also includes produce from the horticultural area. “For our Christmas sale,” says Lucy, “students created a range of items to sell, including Christmas decorations, mosaic pots and even hats.”
The art classes focus on design and craft skills rather than fine art, and for GCSE they will build a portfolio of coursework to include drawing, work with textures, and prints. “I’m really proud of what they create and we display their finished products in cabinets in the reception for everyone to see.”
Art, explains Lucy, is ideal for improving someone’s fine motor skills. “Some pupils don’t enjoy painting, but the arts and crafts route opens up a love of art. We have enrichment groups too, which take place for 45 minutes on Friday afternoons, and the art club is very popular. We’ve recently added a new group called Zentanglers, which makes pictures using doodles – it’s a mindful art.”
LVS Oxford’s success with art is evident, with a high success rate for pupil’s taking it for GCSE. “A lot of them will go on to art college,” says Lucy. “Art is very therapeutic.”
She adds: “I love working at LVS Oxford. Everyone here is always open to new ideas and hearing others opinions, and there is a lot of care for the staff here. I’ve never received so much training and support as I have since I’ve been here.”