6th – 9th July 2016
Preview: Wednesday 6th July 7-9 pm
[toggle]Image courtesy Beecroft Garden Primary School, 2016.[/toggle]

An exhibition and sale of work by children from the school.

An event where all the art sold raises money for developing a special outside space and training for the children to revive Brockley’s tradition of bee-keeping. 

Putting art at the centre of a Primary School’s ethos is a bold thing to do – but that’s exactly what Beecroft Garden Primary School has been doing since the school re-opened in 2012.
 
Visitors to the school enter a reception area that has been designed as an open-plan gallery and library space that is filled with works by children working both collaboratively and individually. The children at the school are always encouraged to talk about art and culture and to understand how the arts can be used to explore the world around them.
 
The National Society for Education in Art and Design Survey Report 2015-16 reported that 89% of primary state school teachers felt that time allocated to art and design fell before key stages 2 National Curriculum tests. Almost half of key stage 1 teachers thought that time allocated for art and design had decreased in general.
 
It is with this context in mind, that the exhibition of works by Beecroft Primary School’s children can show what can happen when art is given a key place in a primary school’s ethos. The school’s specialist art teacher, Dilys Finlay, has worked with children to make drawings, paintings, textiles photography and sculpture that are inspired by art movements such as Aboriginal painting or ideas such as Paul Klee’s notion that drawing was “taking a line for a walk”.
 
All the works in the exhibition will be for sale in order to raise money for developing a special outside space for the children that will revive the local area’s tradition of bee-keeping. Bee-friendly plants, hives and sculptures will all feature. The exhibition has already gained the support of art critics, gallerists and even the occasional collector eager to get work early. 
 
Oliver Basciano, Editor (International) of ArtReview said: “It’s great to see a school that understands bringing to fore a child’s innate creative spirit is of paramount importance. Who knows, perhaps one day one of the children from Beecroft Garden Primary School will be showing in the Tate, building architectural icons or writing life-changing novels.”
 
Preview: Wednesday 6th July 7-9 pm

Exhibition open:
6th July, 10am -5pm
7th – 9th July, 10am – 6pm

Free entry
Step-free access