A very good print workshop at Bedford`s  central gallery /museum complex, with links to the exhibitions on show , led to an excellent response from the year 5`s  with some high quality pieces being produced. The students also engaged well with sketching “treasures” selected from the collections , with, for dessert , the opportunity to demolish Bedford Castle!(the model!), in a history of Bedford exhibition. Mr Slater

On Tuesday 12th May, Chestnut and Sycamore paid a visit to the Cecil Higgins Art Museum in Bedford. The morning was taken up by a printing workshop and the afternoon was a mixture of looking at various exhibits and still life drawing. The first thing we were treated to was a vivid and interesting slideshow of all kinds of different prints, created by a few famous artists. The children were inspired by all the different shapes and colours, plus we had great fun trying to work out how the prints were created! Then the children had their first taste of block printing using simple polystyrene squares, paint and sugar paper. First, they had to sketch a design into the polystyrene using pencils. Next, they covered the printing tile with paint, then simply turned it over to use as a printing block. Their task was to create a repeating pattern using at least two different colours. All of the children produced some lovely work, with some pieces being rather impressive.

After lunch on the lawn outside the museum, we went to the treasures display where the children did some still life drawing of the various artefacts on display. Again, all of the children produced some great drawings and some proved they have an eye for detail. This was followed by visiting another display about Bedford, where the children could copy some of the tile patterns that had actually been found in Bedford itself.

All in all, it was a real hands-on art trip which everyone could enjoy. Mrs Hilton