Secret City: Creative Freedom Update

Credit: Jenny Harper

We’re excited to see the partnership between artist Mark Riley and Cicely Haughton School in Wetley Rocks continue.

Mark Riley is a visual artist specialising in Forest School approaches.

Cicely Haughton School is a specialist school for children with social, emotional and mental health difficulties, whose needs cannot be met within a mainstream environment.

In Year 1 of the programme Mark and the staff and pupils engaged in various art activities in a woodland space on the school grounds dubbed “Secret City” by the children. The activities covered 2D, 3D, individual, collaborative, large and small with a range of resources and materials.

At the end of the project, Mark reflected on their experience: “It’s important to point out that the young people who attend this school have a range of needs, behaviours and come from challenging backgrounds.  This impacts on the project through things like chronic low self-esteem and a lack of confidence, sometimes manifesting in perfectionism, frustration that end products did not match their expectations etc. As the project developed most pupils were seen to be more confident at taking creative risks.  They enjoyed being allowed to play as they created and the space to either collaborate or work alone.”

Alongside the impact on the young people Mark also observed the impact of working this way had on the staff involved in the project. “There was an increase in the levels of co-creation between teachers and pupils as they had permission to engage with open ended processes.”

The fundamentals of this project: play, exploration, co-creation and collaboration are ultimately what gives it its power. This was enabled by the patient building of trust between everyone involved. In Year 2, the leadership team of the school have asked that they utilise this approach to support more aspects of their curriculum (not just art); the trust, the willingness to take risks and Mark’s flexible approach mean that not only is this possible but that it has the capacity to be a useful and meaningful and above all fun project.