Year 6 Explore St Ives

Classroom learning was brought to life for our lucky Year 6 pupils, who travelled to St Ives for a combined English and art trip.

Our pupils have been looking at the interplay between Art and English since the start of term, with a focus on some of the artists and writers who have been inspired by our beautiful county.

Split into three groups, our St Ives explorers visited three locations across the day; Porthmeor Beach, the Tate St Ives and the Barbara Hepworth Museum.

Porthmeor Beach is famous for having inspired artists including Stanhope Forbes, who was so taken with West Cornwall that he set up The Newlyn School of Art. Here, pupils made sketches and wrote notes to inspire writing and artwork they will complete during the remainder of this half term. Having made their own sketchbooks, it was wonderful to see the unique artistic styles of our pupils as they took in their surroundings.

The Tate St Ives is home to collections from Cornwall and around the world, with featured artists including Wallis, Moss and Picaso. Visiting the Tate St Ives helped our pupils explore and understand how artists move between different themes, styles, media and techniques. Pupils delighted in seeing Wallis’ ‘Schooner Under the Moon’ on glorious display in the St Ives light that lured so many artists to Cornwall.

Focussing on the work of Barbara Hepworth, our pupils also visited the Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, the former home and studios of the artist. The gallery and beautiful gardens offer a unique insight into the artist and it was delightful to see our children similarly inspired and in awe of this wonderful setting. Children learnt that Barbara Hepworth was the first sculptor to use holes in her work, to create points of connection, an interplay between light and dark and to allow people to see sculpture in new ways. Hepworth was made a Bard of Cornwall in 1968 and took the bardic name ‘Grayvor’ (sculptor in Cornish).

This valuable and enjoyable trip brings together cross-curricular learning and hands-on experiences, making the most of Truro School’s unique and special location in Cornwall.

Thanks to all of the staff who helped on the day, with special thanks to Miss Ashdown and Ms Cadwallader. A huge well done to our amazing Year 6 pupils who represented the school and received multiple comments on their respectful behaviour, attitude and approach to learning.