Monday 13-03-2017 - 16:54

Week 18 saw the Schools outreach Creative Arts in-school sessions come to a close after 2 weeks with 19 student volunteers that ran sessions with over 220 pupils in six different schools.

Students Taught the children about Pilkington’s pottery, tested out 3D scanning software and helped them to make their own pots out of clay, based on Pilkington’s designs. The sessions were a huge success, with the pupils often struggling to decide which their favourite part of the day was!

“One of the best aspects of the sessions was how the tasks provoked the children to think creatively and without inhibitions” says Sophie, one of the volunteering students who led several of the sessions.

One of the tasks the children were given was to create an observational drawing of a pot, decorating it with a patterns of their choice; something which yielded some interesting designs. “One child drew a flaming Pegasus on theirs” says Sophie, “she said it was so they could steal its wings after it’d burnt away and take them for herself.”

Antonia, another volunteer, particularly enjoyed the children's willingness to engage in the activities and their excitement with all the new information they learned. “I feel like volunteering has boosted my confidence quite a bit”. Volunteer Irina agreed that the kids enjoyed the activities, saying she found it funny “how amazed they were by the 3D scanning and the printing process in general”. For her, the sense of how fun working in a classroom could be really came across, and she was impressed by how ready to get involved the kids always were. “I'm really looking forward to seeing them all again on campus!”

Find out more about the schools programme here.