Workshops for Key Stage 1 & 2
JOURNAL / SKETCHBOOK with Mandy Keating
Duration: Half Day

Discover the Ancient Art of Bookmaking
Create a handmade journal or sketchbook using unusual, beautiful or recycled materials; an old paper bag, your favourite T-shirt, a film or music poster, even your dog’s old blanket! Use your imagination and create a unique book that will last longer than the latest boy band!
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ACCORDION BOOK WITH HARD COVERS with Mandy Keating
Duration: Half Day
A versatile approach to book design, whereby paper is folded to create pockets for adding keepsake items, i.e. seeds or flowers if a gardening theme. The hard covers can also be shaped as appropriate, e.g. leaf shaped.
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SHAPED ACCORDION BOOK with Mandy Keating
Duration: Half Day
Similar to the accordion book but incorporating more cutting and design. Paper is folded to create a shaped book to fit in with a theme, i.e. pirate ship, house, spaceship, castle
Age group: primary upwards
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ORIGAMI POCKET BOOK WITH HARD COVERS with Mandy Keating
Duration: Half Day

Similar to the accordion book, but with the addition of more pockets and with more gluing involved in the process. This workshop requires following slightly more complex instructions and is suitable for upper key stage 2 children.
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TREASURE MAP BOOK WITH HARD COVERS with Mandy Keating
Duration: Half Day

Make an authentic looking and smelling ‘treasure’ map, which is folded and glued into hard covers and ties added. (Ideal for your Viking or Halloween themes)
OPTION: For further design and embellishment of pages and covers you may prefer to book a full day session.
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AMAZING ADVENTUROUS CASTLE BOOK with Mags Bradley
Duration: Half Day

Children will be tutored through step by step instructions to fold and cut A3 paper to produce a book in the form of a standing castle with central tower and crenulated top plus doors and an inner sanctum!
Having created the book it lends itself to writing and illustrating adventure, history, descriptive stories within.
A very large walk through version can also be made. It does not have to be a castle but any other design using the square structure.
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FUN AND FURRY – LAMINATED AND STITCHED BOOKS WITH Mags Bradley
Duration: Half Day

These jewel like covered books are created using tissue paper that may be torn and overlaid or cut and designed dependent on the age and ability of the children.
Having created the laminated covers they are then filled with either plain or pre printed paper pages and hole punched and stitched using either fun fluffy, tufted wool or ribbons to create an interesting spine and tie that wraps around the book for fastening. These are ideal for a project or note / sketchbook / diary and recording tool.
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SPRING UP AND OUT ! STAR BOOKS with Mags Bradley
Duration: Half Day

Interconnecting pages fold back and forward in a star pattern. These can be joined together to make books of any scale! This is a fun book that can be made in different sizes and any number of pages. This design is ideal for collaborative projects or for creating unusual pamphlets and booklets.
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MARBLE PAPER, PASTE PRINTING AND BUBBLE PRINTS with Mags Bradley
Duration: Half Day
Create decorative papers that can be then used in further projects using a variety of both free and designed styles of working. Marbling paper by floating ink and dipping paper on to it is a magical adventure, illustrating science and serendipity. Bubble prints again are an illustration of actions relating to effect. Paste paper can be instant and free hand or may employ increased skill and planning for older children as different patterns and over printing may be used. This would also give a older group a project to make wrapping paper.
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MINIBEASTS AND GIANT BUGS with Ann Flower and Kirsty Champ
Duration: Half Day

The day begins with a minibeast hunt guided by an environment specialist around the different habitats at the Water’s Edge nature reserve. On returning to the Ropewalk children will look at real insects with magnification, discuss their differences and translate their observations into large individual and group drawings using a variety of creative media, informed by what they have learnt about minibeasts during the morning session.
NC Units : Science 2B Plants and animals in the local environment & 4B Habitats. Art 1B investigating Materials
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TRANSLATING JOURNEYS
Duration: Half Day

Children will be introduced to the work of land artists Richard Long and Andy Goldsworthy and will explore making temporary artworks to describe a journey using natural materials such as stone, clay and bark. During the afternoon, a walk around the nearby nature reserve includes several stops to investigate the wildlife, geology and plant life
NC Units: 4C Journeys, 2B Mother Nature Designer, 6C A Sense of Place, 3C Can We Change Places? Back to top
CHINESE NEW YEAR with Wendy Chan
Duration: Half Day
Welcoming the Year of the Tiger. A half day session bringing you a taste of Chinese arts during this very special time of the year. Discover the customs for a Chinese New Year celebration and create a Good Luck wall hanging for your school. Children will experiment with painting and making their own decorations. Discover the symbolism used in Chinese New Year trimmings and learn about associated games and tradition.
NC Units: Citizenship O5 Living in a diverse world.
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DEFT WARP & WEFT with Janine Knight
Duration: Half Day

This workshop focuses on using recycled materials to create individual woven pieces. Children will experiment with processes such as ripping, stitching and scrunching of materials as well as investigating dyes.
NC Units: 1B Investigating materials.
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DRAWING IN ACTION with Marc Renshaw
Duration: Half Day

Using a variety of drawing media and projection methods, children will be introduced to various ways of successfully recording and expressing movement in visual art, producing large scale drawings to express actions that have been chosen through role-play and discussion. A critique will take place at the end of the workshop to evaluate the drawings.
NC Units: 6A People in action
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PAPER FROM OLD ROPE! with Jonathan Korejko
Duration: Full Day

This workshop explores rope making heritage through access to related information and materials. Children will create a variety of handmade papers using recycled rope, string and various plant fibres used in rope making.
NC Units: 2B Mother nature designer, 1B Investigating materials
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ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? with Michael Scrimshaw
Duration: Full Day

Examines the role and design of chairs from historical and cultural perspectives, we will discuss how and why certain materials are selected along with scale, style and usage. Children must combine imagination with practicality and work together to design and construct life sized chairs entirely from newspaper using a unique rolling system.
Full Day Workshop NC Units: 4B Take a seat
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CITIZENSHIP MASKS with Kirsty Champ
Duration: Full Day
An opportunity to look at the way masks are used in different cultures to mark times of change and celebration. Using real masks for inspiration, children create masks in order to retell their own story. Leading into literacy or drama work in the classroom, this is also an opportunity for children to develop their group work and retell a story collectively.
NC Units: Citizenship 12 - Moving on, 05 Living in a diverse world, Art 6B - What a performance
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WEAVING NATURE’S SEASONS with Ann Flower and Janine Knight
Duration: Full Day
Children will design a palette of colour and form inspired by samples of dried or fallen materials collected during an exploration of the nearby nature reserve to create woven artworks using natural fibres and textiles selected for their textures and colours.
NC Units: Science 2B Plants and animals in the local environment & 4B Habitats. Art 1B Investigating Materials , 2B Mother Nature Designer
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SEEING THROUGH NATURE with Gill Hobson
Duration: Full Day

This workshop takes a look at the fabulous variety of forms found in nature and uses transparent and opaque media to express ideas around order, pattern and shape, overlapping colour and light. designs using drawing and collage techniques. Children work individually and collaboratively to explore how small components in nature combine and build to produce a larger whole.
NC Units: 1C What is sculpture? 2B Mother nature designer
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PYRAMIDAL PURSES with Kirsty Champ
Duration: Half Day

Children are asked to examine and discuss purses and money containers from different cultures, considering shape, materials and construction. Each child creates their own personalised 3D money container using felt, decorative and recycled materials including feathers, ribbon and buttons. The workshop concludes with a short plenary to compare ideas and discuss skills and learning.
NC Units: 5B containers, D&T 4B Money containers
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WIRE PORTRAITS with Kirsty Champ
Duration: Full Day

This workshop takes a look at the work of the American artist Alexander Calder, famous for his fabulous bent wire mobiles and sculptures. After drafting their ideas in a number of ink drawings, children need to consider scale, proportion and line connectivity in order to transcribe their ideas into a representational bent wire sculpture.
NC Units: 1A Self portraits, 3A Portraying relationships
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UNRAVELLING THE ROPERY with Jonathan Korejko
Duration: Full Day
This workshop teaches relief printmaking techniques whilst investigating the heritage of the former rope factory, its ¼ mile construction in locally made bricks and tiles and many other notable features. Children will design printing blocks and print on paper and cloth to make an individual flag or mini banner.
NC Units: 2C Can buildings speak?, 1B Investigating materials
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VEHICLE VROOM... With Michael Scrimshaw
Duration: Half Day

Children will explore the properties of materials and techniques in making by creating moving model vehicles. Throughout the session the vehicles are ‘customised’ to efficiently use various forces in order to produce independent forward motion. The vehicles are tested through a series of obstacles and races. Learners will develop an understanding of the construction of moving joints and how dynamic forces can affect movement.
NC units: D&T 2A vehicles, Science 2E forces and movement 4E Friction
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COILED STORY BOWLS with Janine Knight
Duration: Half Day

During this workshop children explore how stories have been represented in textiles in ancient and modern times by another culture. Basket weaving and story telling are central to the Native American Pueblo way of life and will provide the inspiration for creating individual coiled baskets. The session closes with a discussion about what special items of significance to our culture the bowls could be used to contain.
NC Units: 5C Talking textiles, 5B - Containers, Citizenship O5 Living in a diverse world
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CLASS PORTRAITS with Michael Scrimshaw
Duration: Half Day

Tuition in the art of portrait painting with a strong emphasis on the use of observation and description. The children each produce their self portrait which will become part of a larger, collaborative wall piece depicting the whole class seated in rows as in a group photograph. Key Stage1 workshops use collage and montage to explore early aspects of portraiture.
NC Units: Art 1A Self portrait, 3A Portraying relationships
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Sensory Workshops for Special Education
CLOTH “ME” BOOKS with Mags Bradley

Tailored to groups of up to four students, the principle of this workshop is to create a soft cloth book with pictures of identified objects, places or people that are pertinent to the individual. Reinforcing connectivity and ownership, the book can be used as a communication tool. Using digital photography to record important themes for each child, the collected images are ironed onto strong canvas ‘pages’ along with any appropriate signs or symbols and bound together with textured ribbon to create a book that is soft and tactile and invites interaction.
Suitable for P level 1 – 4
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PAPER FROM OLD ROPE! with Jonathan Korejko

This workshop explores rope making heritage through access to associated resources that invite handling and discussion. Children will create handmade paper using recycled rope, string and various plant fibres used in rope making. Experimentation and embellishment are encouraged and the silky feel of paper pulp and coarse rope fibres provide a lovely tactile contrast.
Suitable for P level 1 – 8
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FROM SHHHH TO BANG! with Michael Scrimshaw

A workshop that explores cause and effect, creating works of art that invite us to interact with them. These are things that do things…noise and movement things. Using a number of simple kinetic principles such as pendulums and levers, create ingenious moving sculptures that beg to be used so they can make a range of sounds.
Suitable for P level 4 – 8
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GIANT MULTI-SENSORY WEAVING with Janine Knight

A collaborative activity focusing on the treatment and manipulation of different textiles and flexible materials to create a giant woven panel. Materials are categorised by their sensory qualities e.g. noisy, shiny, rough when handled and tonally and colourfully interesting when viewed. The large scale of the work makes it ideal for creating a wall hanging so that it invites touching and investigation by other children once displayed at the school.
Suitable for P level 1 – 8
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TACTILES with Marilyn Oliver

This session teaches the basics of moulding, rolling, cutting and indenting to create textured and contoured surfaces, that once fired invite further touch and exploration. Natural clay has a range of qualities that make it is an extremely engaging material - compact weight, coolness, slippery, sticky and grainy texture and resistance. The finished tiles could be permanently installed on a wall or individually backed with felt as a classroom resource.
Suitable for P level 1 – 8
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ENVIRONMENTAL INTERVENTIONS with Ellie Collins

This workshop provides an arena for exploring a plethora of different materials with light, reflection and projection. Designed with autistic students in mind, this workshop is ideal for groups of up to five individuals, without the restrictions of a product led outcome. The role of the artist is to create an atmosphere conducive to experimentation, offering subtle suggestive cues such as mirroring and object placement. It is a gentle and non-invasive session.
Suitable for P level 1 - 8
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Art & History: Following Threads
Available from April, our latest partnership enterprise - a full day of art and history brings together high quality learning and convenience over two sites, to make planning your trip child’s play. Our themed workshop links are carefully considered, however you may alternatively mix and match any half day Ropewalk and Wilderspin School workshops of your choice. All workshops cost £7.50 per child for the whole day. To find out more contact Ian Wolseley (Wilderspin School) on 01652 635172 or Ellie Collins (The Ropewalk) on 01652 660380.
http://www.wilderspinschool.org.uk/schools/schoolprogs.htm
STRANDS OF LEARNING - linked with - TWIST IN THE TALE

The international importance of Barton and Hull in the Victorian rope making industry are explored through teaching techniques advocated by the Victorian educational pioneer Samuel Wilderspin. The session includes geography, history, science and technology activities and begins to develop characterisation. Focusing on the “who, what, where, why & when” of story telling and using familiar fairy tales, images and found objects for context and inspiration, children are encouraged to imagine a day in the life of a boy or girl at the Ropery. The sounds, smells and sensations of the Ropery are evoked to create a personal adventure to share at the close of the session.
Supports Year 3 & 4 Units within the Primary Literacy Framework, KS2 Science and Technology units and Geography unit 24 Passport to the world
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THE CAMERA NEVER LIES - linked with - CLASS PORTRAITS

A class photograph in period costume sets the scene and ignites children’s imagination. A range of photographs belonging to the school are then used as a discussion tool to consider the dress and appearance of Victorian school children, how people were portrayed at the time and the reality of class and experience behind the imagery. u Tuition in the art of portrait painting with a strong emphasis on the use of observation and description. The children each produce their self portrait which will become part of a larger, collaborative wall piece depicting the whole class seated in rows as in a group photograph.
NC Units: Art 1A Self portrait, 3A Portraying relationships or History 11 What was it like for children living in Victorian Britain?
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TALKING ARCHITECTURE - linked with - BRILLIANT BUILDINGS

Focusing on the built environment in the vicinity of the Wilderspin School, particularly buildings of the Victorian period, children are asked to look closely at the particular features of buildings which can tell us something about their age, the people who built them and the purpose they were used for, The school environment is used to promote discussion about how architecture has been used to respond to the demands of people of different ages and professions through history. Children work in small groups to design and construct a doorway in relief using the styles and designs of the local Victorian and Edwardian houses. Together we will look at how the local styles differ from other architectural trends and how they give clues to the purpose and status of buildings in this era. The process involves cutting and pasting a montage from colour copied architectural imagery and building the imagined frontage in layers to produce a representation in relief.
NC Units: Art 2C Can buildings speak? History 2 What were homes like a long time ago?
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Links
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Please click here to download the latest Education Newsletter
Please click here to download the latest Sensory Newsletter
Please click here for information on Coach Bursaries for schools
Please click here for information about Living Willow
Please click here to see our child protection policy
Unravelling Barton Ropery Education Packs
The heritage project has created an education pack to support interpretation of the Ropewalk by schools. The pack includes activities for KS1 and KS2 to use on site at the Ropewalk as well as in the classroom. The packs can assist in the preparation and follow up to your visit to The Ropewalk and help maximise the potential for learning outside the classroom.
Onsite activities include a self guided tour of the site of the rope factory supported by teacher’s notes.
The pack of classroom resources covers a wide range of curriculum subjects including history, literacy, science and geography. The five sections of the pack each look at a different aspect of the site and its heritage and are designed to fit in with national curriculum programmes of study. The activities support the new heritage exhibition at the Ropewalk, about rope making in Barton.
To view Education Packs please click here
For more information please contact Janine Knight janine@the-ropewalk.co.uk
Objects in the storeroom resource to support KS2 Theme 5: Retelling the Story of Barton Ropery
Please click here to download the information on this resource
Facilities & Self Guided Visits
Self guided visits to the exhibition and galleries are available throughout the year and are free providing we have at least two weeks notice. We can provide a room for lunch for an additional £10. We advise that you allow between 20 and 30 minutes for a visit of this nature.
A comprehensive education pack supports interpretation of The Ropewalk by schools. It is available to download from our website www.the-ropewalk.co.uk
We offer a space for lunch if requested, with no additional cost when booking an artist led workshop and there is plenty of room along our promenade, with outdoor play facilities nearby, to safely stretch legs and take a break from activities.
The Ropewalk houses two art galleries, a craft gallery and sculpture garden as well as a heritage display containing articles and information relating to the building’s former purpose as a rope making factory.
The Ropewalk has level access throughout and is well equipped to accommodate the large numbers and varied requirements of the many people who visit.
Overlooking the magnificent suspension bridge, the local area boasts a rich and interesting history and natural wetland habitats for wildlife as well as evidence of coastal industries including a working Boatyard.
Getting the most out of your visit
All of our artist led and self guided activities can accommodate up to around 35 children per session.
The Ropewalk is an independent centre for the arts and attracts many visitors. We cannot guarantee exclusive access to our facilities during self guided visits and break times, however we do restrict public access to education spaces during organised sessional times.
You are welcome to come and view our facilities prior to booking a workshop or in preparation for your visit. Ropewalk staff will be happy to answer any queries you have. We aim to be an inclusive facility and will be happy to accommodate any particular needs that you identify.
Most of our workshops are adaptable to last for a half day or full day. Please specify if you would like us to alter the duration as published or wish to make any other changes or adaptions. If you would like further detail about any of our workshops, please call to discuss.
We will be happy to discuss appropriate activities and information which can support your workshop. If you wish, we can normally arrange for an artist can come into school to follow up a workshop attended at The Ropewalk, building on initial work and further embedding and developing ideas. We can also offer guidance or information on any aspect of the learning objectives, delivery methods or evaluation of our workshops.
Tailoring and Adaptability
Most of our workshops are adaptable for either key stage 1 or 2, or for students with special educational needs. If you see a workshop which you are interested in but need it adapting to suit the age or ability of your students please ask and we will be happy to make alterations to suit your needs.
If you have an activity in mind which is not advertised please enquire. Whether you’re studying Ancient Greece, Growth & Lifecycles or Dinosaurs…we can usually design a bespoke creative workshop to explore your topic.
Safeguarding
Our child protection policy is available to view online. All of our artists are vetted by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) and hold an enhanced disclosure within 12 months of issue. We require artists to have their own public liability insurance. All of our workshops are risk assessed and a copy of this assessment will be issued along with your booking confirmation.
Additional Information
We advise that you prepare for your visit by briefing children about the expectations of the trip, including the nature of the activity being accessed and the appropriate conduct expected whilst at an art gallery shared with the general public. Toilets are located throughout the building, with between two and five cubicles closely accessible at once depending on which workshop space is available.
t: 01652 660380 e:education@the-ropewalk.co.uk |