Our Focus Day looking at Sir Christopher Wren through the arts was an absolute joy. It is so wonderful to have such an innovative and polymathic figure be the inspiration for our Academy as it gives my students and I such a wealth of stimulus from which to spark our learning. It was important for me that this Focus Day be an opportunity to really understand the ingenuity and abundance of varied ideas in Wren’s creativity and a chance for students to then really channel this same energy in their own exploration of materials in relation to design and the built environment. I wanted the students to also explore the relationship between architecture and our experience of it which the Baroque style Wren is so famous for and was all about involving the viewer, being dramatic and engaging and being exciting for us to relate to and move through. What better way to investigate this, I thought, than for our students to transform themselves into performing architecture through creating wearable sculptures?

With the help of Miss Charalambous, students came to understand what makes their own Wren designed house churches special and the work each do in their community to make the world a better place. Students used this to inform their sculptures and their performances in them, to proudly communicate the message of their House Church and it was thoroughly magical to see the results. I am immensely proud of all the Year 7 students’ collaboration, creativity and creations that day and I was most glad to see how much they enjoyed it and how much they learned.

Feedback from the students about what they learnt on the day included:

“To always be resilient and never give up”
“To help others”
“That we should work as a team and everyone should have a say in what they do”
“That time is precious”
“That with anything you can make something” as well as of course
“The story of Sir Christopher Wren”

What a delightful wealth of takeaways from one day! Students said they enjoyed “Helping everyone and having fun”
“The making process”
“The performances because you got to see the houses’ hard work” and
“How we all had fun”.

I could not be happier with how all the students threw themselves 100% into the day and gave themselves so confidently to the creative process.  I cannot wait until our next Focus Day.

Well done Year 7!