Location: Shelton Infants School:
Participants: Primary Key Stage 1
Partners: Creative Partnerships
Aims of the project:

• Stimulate focus on communication skills and literacy.
• Act as a vehicle to explore the outdoor space.
• To develop a narrative and story structure.

The Project:
One day in the playground….
The scene is set; the children come into the playground one Tuesday morning and make a discovery that over the weekend a large 3D object has arrived in the playground. As they see the sculpture for the first time their eyes widen and imagination takes over as they realise this will be no normal week at school!
During this week long residency Fifth Word alongside 3 other artists (film makers, a ceramicist and a movement specialist) explored and interpreted the new playground phenomenon with children and staff.

Fifth Word worked with Yr1 &2 pupils to create different narratives around the sudden appearance of the sculpture. The children’s ideas about what it could be ranged from: The hand of a robot, a rocket, an octopus, a rainbow but by far the most popular was a spaceship. While exploring these ideas we went on to create a ‘storyline’ with key words and pictures hung on a washing line for all to see as the stories developed. Pupils were asked to look at How the Spaceship arrived, who inhabited it and what happened next. Through the use of soundscape exercises, freeze frames, interviews and characterisation the pupils were encouraged to explore every eventuality and dissect their stories into manageable scenes, images and sounds.