I made a surprise real visit this week. Mrs Wilson got the children ready for the session and they couldn’t see me on the screen so they were calling me. When I appeared at the door one of the children said: ” we were shouting you” and another said “how did you get here so quick?”, complaining that the computer didn’t work! If last week seemed hard to beat, this week was even better. We went to the school hall and taped together large bits of paper on the floor to make backdrops that were taller than the children. Then the children used plant sprayers to create squirty patterns on the background. Mrs Wilson did try to take extra turns but we were able to persuade her to be good -just about! Apart from a few shoes that got accidentally skited, amazingly the bulk of paint landed on the page. Applied this way, we knew that the paint would dry fairly quickly in time for use to use later in the day. Next we made another backdrop, again, with the children laying out and taping together large sheets of paper.

Everyone chose shades of whites, blues and greens and the children mixed them together -from mint to navy to jade. This time the children used sponges and started in the middle, creating a pattern that spread out and covered the whole huge area. The teamwork and maturity of the P1’s and P2’s was incredible, especially considering how excited the adults were. We hung the backdrops against the gym bars and after break the children took turns with the i-pads to photograph each other in their masks.

They looked amazing but their poses made the masks really come to life. The P1’s and P2’s are inspirational -they have such a free way of working and they are so natural with the virtual process. It’s been amazing. I am so glad that we tried this experiment and hope that we can bring some of this inspiration to bear when work resumes with the P3’s and P4’s.