‘Breaking the Mould’

On the 22nd November, the Lower Sixth Viner Society and selected Year 10 artists had the amazing opportunity to visit Walsall Art Gallery’s sculpture exhibition ‘Breaking the Mould’. Emily Connor in the Lower Sixth shares her report:

“The sculptures inside the exhibition were the works of only female sculptors, whose work had previously been overlooked in the art industry: a fact that meant the exhibition contents resonated with me personally as we saw sculptures that had previously not been properly appreciated.

Milestones Day

The whole of the Junior School took part in a Religious Education Day along the theme of 'Milestones'. The day began with an assembly to get the children thinking about what milestones we have in our lives and how these might link with different religions. Reception and Year 1 children looked at birth and naming ceremonies, Years 2 and 3 considered marriage ceremonies and Years 4 to 6 discussed coming-of-age or religious maturity ceremonies, something that they might well experience in the near future. Working with Devi Bansal at Interfaith Wolverhampton, Mrs Hughes was able to welcome a wonderful variety of speakers for the day.

Mr Aman Verma and Mrs Sandy Verma came to talk to the children about the Hindu religion. Firstly, they visited Reception and Year 1 to share some of the customs and traditions of Hindu birth and naming ceremonies. They were then welcomed into our Year 2 and Year 3 classes, where they

In the hours we were there we were able to look around the exhibition and see a different side to the art we are ordinarily used to. There were sculptures made from all kinds of materials from sand to wire to bronze; they were all individually unique and unusual.

After looking around the gallery, we all enjoyed a workshop learning about the sculpting process and attempted to create our own mini sculptures out of plaster of paris. Inspired by our visit, I look forward now to creating our own sculptures at school ready, for an shared artefacts and images from Hindu weddings, which the children were fascinated by.

Years 2 and 3 were also lucky enough to be visited by Mr Khalid Akhtar, who shared his knowledge of Muslim marriage ceremonies. He showed the classes a PowerPoint presentation and engaged the children wonderfully, encouraging them to ask questions so they could find out more. He then visited Year 1 to talk about Islamic birth and naming ceremonies.

Across Years 4, 5 and 6, the children learnt about the religious maturity ceremonies in Judaism, Sikhism and Buddhism. Ms Eve Clevenger, Mr Inderjit Singh, Simranjit Kaur and Devi Bansal provided the children with groups even learnt a dance which is a traditional part of Jewish celebrations associated with this religious milestone. The children thoroughly enjoyed the range of activities and spontaneous re-creations of the dance they had been learning could be seen breaking out on the playground at the end of the day!