Context 

During the decade that I held a fractional post as head of art at a key stage 3 and 4 Pupil Referral Unit in an Inner London borough, I created a new installation in my art room at the start of each term. On a pragmatic level these served as a visual stimulus for themes that could be explored in different ways by different year groups, and provided a context in which each child could make a contribution, sometimes individually, often collaboratively. But my main purpose in building them was to bring the outside world into the classroom, to stimulate, engage, inspire and surprise. The installations also helped overcome most pupils'  reluctance to attempt observational drawing. 

Illustrated in the gallery are a few of these art room installations with examples of  work made during the ensuing projects. 

Some projects were cross-curricular with the science and DT departments making regular contributions. The final project was the most ambitious: a collaboration between the Drama, Music, DT and Art departments, terminating in a site specific installation and performance in a disused school where the audience was escorted by torchlight through the darkened building to unravel a mystery disappearance. Live music, video, automata, remotely activated sounds and events, tape-slide, live performance, manipulated images and tableaux were created by Year 10 pupils.

Only projects at the end of the decade used ICT, although in the early nineties, before my single PC, scanner and printer were purchased, we made great use of sound, copyart (i.e. art made using photocopiers, including A3 x 20 enlargements) and tape-slide installations. Resources and media were limited by a very small budget, but enhanced by the rich contents of local skips and the Artefact Loans Library. I built a darkroom in the centre and all pupils had a photography module in Year 9 called Drawing with Light during which they learned to turn a plastic dustbin, crisp tubes and shoeboxes into pinhole cameras, make sun pictures and photograms, use a single-lens reflex camera, and develop black and white prints.  

Pupils were referred to the unit on a temporary basis throughout the year and received part-time tuition of 12 hours a week, although at key stage 4 they were unlikely to be transferred back into mainstream education. Year 11 sat GCSE Art (Unendorsed) and others took GCSE Art (Photography). Projects had to offer flexible entry points and a range of differentiated outcomes and activities to meet the demands of a constantly changing roll

Home - Animation - Video - Projects - Image Manipulation - IWBs - Interactive - Presentations - Multimedia Tutorials - Other Tutorials - Art Links - Gallery - About