Springhallows Pupils Become Artists For The Week

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Students took part in creative sessions of sculpture and photography

Children from Springhallow School in West Ealing have taken part in a special creative arts session during World Autism Awareness Week.

Award-winning arts charity, Create, ran sculpture and photography workshops at the school for pupils with autism, and Asperger's syndrome.

Part of Create’s creative:connection programme, the workshops, which began in February, enabled the Springhallow pupils to work collaboratively, build trusting relationships with each other and develop their creativity, social skills and confidence.

Create’s professional artist Jenny Leonard and photographer Tracey Fahy guided the young people through the process.

Simultaneously, the pupils photographed their work, experimenting with composition techniques and the use of light and shadow. Engaging in these two complementary art forms gave the pupils the opportunity to develop a broad range of creative and technical skills, and encouraged them to feel pride in their creations.

According to The Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People’s Services, people with disabilities are less likely to take part in cultural activities and more likely to experience bullying. creative:connection offers the Springhallow pupils an opportunity to develop confidence, supportive relationships, self-esteem and creativity to help counter these barriers.

The children's work was shown off at a special end of programme day on Friday 31 March.

Create’s Co-Founder & Chief Executive, Nicky Goulder, said:

“Collaborating on creative arts projects is such an effective way of stimulating interaction, ideas and self-expression. This is particularly important for those whose access to creative opportunities can be limited. The fact that the last two sessions of creative:connection fell during Autism Awareness Week gives us a great opportunity to raise awareness about how much creativity benefits children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. We would like to thank John Lyon’s Charity for making the project possible.”

 

 

 

 

8th April 2017