This term in Year 6, our enquiry is based on the question, ‘Does everyone have a voice?’ To begin the enquiry, we discussed whether art could give you a voice and used the artist Banksy as our guide to answering this question.
Having studied some of Banksy’s most famous pieces, we unpicked the meaning behind them, and purpose of them. The children then decided to design and create a Banksy of their own to raise awareness of a cause. Here are some of the results…
Year 2 have been trying to answer the question:
Is everything always as it seems?
Through our art project we have been exploring the concept of: Identity
We have looked at the work of Pablo Picasso.
He painted in lots of different styles.
We discussed his work and how it made us feel. We looked at the colours he used and how they showed two different sides to his identity.
We took this as inspiration for our own art work.
We learnt how to sketch and shade. We then learnt how to mix bright and dark colours. We then turned our sketches into cubism portraits using 2D shapes
We considered the different side of our identity, and how our two paintings portrayed this.
As a part of our enquiry, ‘Does everyone have a voice?, we invited Chris Lubbe to talk to Year 6 about his experiences of growing up in South Africa during the Apartheid, and his work as one of Nelson Mandela’s bodyguards. We wanted to show the children that no matter your background, no matter your situation, everyone has the ability to use their voice for change. On sharing his story, Chris did exactly that – proved to the children that labels mean little when you don’t let them.
Over Zoom, Chris spoke to us about how, as a child, he was so determined to learn that he went hunting for books to salvage from the local rubbish tip. He lived in the slums where he created his own clandestine library for other children too. We learnt about how he was nearly separated from his parents as his skin was deemed ‘too light’ to possibly be their child. Various ‘tests’ were done to assess his ‘blackness’ and happily, his hair decided that he was ‘black enough’ when the assessors placed a pencil into his curls and it didn’t immediately fall out. As a result, he was allowed to remain with his parents, his birth certificate reading ‘coloured’.
As Chris Lubbe grew up, he became more and more aware of the Apartheid rules, and how he, his family and many of his friends lived according to segregation rules. Blacks and whites were not allowed to mix. Black people had separate buses, ambulances, train carriages, toilets, beaches, and so on. Of course, the facilities for black people were far worse than those available to people with white skin. Determined to do something about this inequality, Chris began organising peaceful protests, but soon found himself locked up as a result. He was tortured and treated as less than human, but still he continued on his mission to raise awareness for his cause – he continued to use his voice.
After a chance meeting with Nelson Mandela, Chris became one of his bodyguards – Nelson was impressed by Chris’ height and decided he’d be a great man for the job. Chris travelled around the world with Mandela, experiencing things that he would never have dreamt of when growing up in Apartheid ruled South Africa.
And now? Now Chris continues to spread the word, ensuring that children across the country (including at Shamblehurst!), understand that they too can make a difference, regardless of their background.
It is a privilege to have heard him speak. The children were all riveted by what he had to say, and the photos, videos and quotes he shared with us. His words are unforgettable, and, we hope, life changing too.
Shamblehurst is entering a competition to win £5000 worth of book tokens for our school, please nominate us and support us in enriching our curriculum.
You can nominate our school here: https://www.
On Wednesday 10th March 2021, Year 2 children took on the role of a passenger on board the Titanic. They came dressed as a 1st, 2nd or 3rd class passenger all with their own reasons for starting their journey to America. We experienced what it would have been like on board from different points of view.
The children set sail from Southampton, explored the 3 classes on board the ship, went to the 3 dining rooms and took part in some waltzing.
Mrs Smile and Miss Bryan
