Gifted and talented pupils are children that excel or respond positively to art sessions, they may get the opportunity to work more intensively on other projects or 1:1 with our arts lead during intervention slots. Being gifted and talented within the arts does not simply mean a child possesses an exceptional talent for visual arts but also that they maybe highly motivated to explore or communicate through the arts.
This intervention is carried out by our trained arts lead and is run once a week over the course of a full term. The group usually consists of 4 children who have been chosen because they are naturally interested/gifted in the arts and have the cognitive capacity to understand and engage with the programme. The intervention looks to support children develop social or emotional skills through art making.
Specifically SmArty crew is a programme of creative activities that focusses on exploring identity, increasing self-esteem, developing belonging to a group, exploring emotions and developing art skills. It is important to encourage a safe and nurturing response in a confidential environment in these sessions so the children feel confident in expressing themselves. Here are some of the photos from our most recent group –
Lincoln was supported to explore clay in his 3D art session. He sat independently at the table and rolled the clay around in his hands. He twirled it above his head and made eye contact with it.
He hummed to himself and appeared content, feeling the weight of clay. Alex hummed back with him and twirled the clay too. Lincoln made eye contact with her and continued to hum. Alex took Lincoln’s hands with clay in and squeezed them tightly. Lincoln smiled and giggled. Alex let go and waited, he offered his hands back to her, she said ‘more’ and repeated the tight squeeze. Lincoln laughed and smiled again. They repeated this 3 times. Lincoln watched every time Alex twirled the clay above her head as he did the same , appearing to notice that they were doing the same thing. Lincoln remained sat independently at the table for over 5 minutes which is a really long engagement time for him. Later in the morning during continuous provision Lincoln was given some more clay to explore. He took it and lay with it on a cushion and continued to twirl it over his head. He seemed relaxed and again offered his hands over for Alex to squeeze and release, appearing to enjoy the deep pressure of the squeeze. Excellent work Lincoln!
Edward has been taking part in an art intervention session with our arts lead each week. So far he has explored transient clay and mud sculptures, whereby it is as much about the process of making as any permanent end piece of art work. He has shown great imagination and communication skills; sometimes using a PODD mat as a prompt but also independently asking for what he wants. He explored both the clay and mud with his hands, manipulating both materials and changing its shape and texture by adding water. He independently made an alien spaceship and an aeroplane with the clay and a face with the mud. He spent time studying the materials on offer and looking at what could work best for eyes , nose and ‘big and little teeth’ (conkers, pine cones and sticks). It is clear Edward finds working with these sensory materials extremely relaxing but what is really positive is that he shows he is able to cope with the session coming to an end and leaving the materials behind as he returns to class. He does this with a clear one minute warning (visual and verbal) and then by saying ‘ goodbye’ to what he has worked on. Great work Edward. It is a pleasure to work with you.
Edward shows great fascination with sensory art work. He gets fully involved with whatever the medium is and has shown the ability to listen and take directions whist working. He particularly enjoyed the ice sculptures and kinetic sand sculptures we made during our 3D art sessions, appearing relaxed and focussed in the moment.
Mason has been known to use his symbols to request art the day before the session, he has shown an increased enjoyment of the subject. He is always first to the table to explore and experiment with the materials. He is highly motivated to be creative. He seems relaxed and happy when he is working, using increasing levels of communication.
