Pupils’ art project links Victorian era

The youngsters have been working towards their Bronze Arts Awards with staff at Ripon Museums, poet and Ripon Poetry Festival founder, Andy Croft and animator, Dawn Feather.

They were able to share the heritage of the place and bring it alive so the pupils could imagine themselves in the shoes of poor and desperate Victorian children entering the workhouse.

Carrie Philip, Ripon Museum’s Learning & Outreach Manager said: “It became clear that the fear and uncertainty the children had experienced during the past two years of Covid 19 helped them to identify with child inmates in the Victorian workhouse.

“They produced beautiful and compelling pieces of creative writing as an emotional response to experiencing the workhouse. They should be immensely proud of their achievements.”

The children wrote poems under the titles Dread, Fear, Grief and Nothing which were then recorded, captured sound effects to go alongside the poems and made their own chalk drawing animations that were presented as powerful audio-visual pieces.

And 52 pupils from Holy Trinity Junior were awarded their Bronze Arts Award with feedback praising their excellent animated spoken poetry.

“The experience went beyond the immediate task at hand and will hopefully inspire the group to explore other creative endeavours,” added Carrie.

One pupil said: “I learnt how to make an animation which helped open up more creative ideas.”

Holy Trinity headteacher Paul Bowlas said: “Holy Trinity were thrilled to work in conjunction with Ripon Museums to provide a broad and creative experience for the children of our school.

“Working together on the Arts Award provided a much-needed experience which not only helped children educationally but was also very good for their health and wellbeing.”

The poems are at: www.riponmuseums.co.uk