Sticking at It! Visit to Oxford Road Primary School, Reading, Berkshire, UK

Along the Oxford Road, towards the town centre in Reading, Berkshire, lies Oxford Road Primary School, a wonderful Victorian school building, brimming with youthful energy and curiosity. Recently, we visited the school to introduce a series of low-tech Widening Participation art activities to a group of students, who have been facing various challenges in their academic journey.

These activities were designed as a result of consultation sessions with stakeholders from the Wilson Primary and Oxford Primary Federation. Teachers and assistants were looking at how to provide a safe space for students to creatively engage with art and technology. Working alongside dedicated teaching assistants, we embarked on a journey of imagination and storytelling, equipped with nothing but brightly coloured ‘Washi’ Tape and limitless possibilities!

The sessions were structured to be as organic as possible, with no rigid expectations of outcomes. The students were invited to stay for as long as they wished, creating an environment where they could truly immerse themselves in the creative process. This lack of pressure was essential in building trust and encouraging students to explore their creativity freely.

One of the main tools we used was ‘Washi’ Tape (patterned and coloured low adhesion masking tape on rolls). We found that this simple, yet versatile material helped to ‘ice break’ each session because there was not an imperative to put ‘pen to paper’. The students eagerly selected their favourite colours and began tearing, ripping, and sticking the tape onto sheets of paper. This seemingly straightforward act quickly evolved into something bigger.

As the sessions progressed, the students started to tell stories, create characters, and compose imagery, all driven by the tape in front of them. The teaching assistants and I observed how the students’ stories interweaved and spread across the paper. It was incredible to see how a small strip of tape could transform into a river, a tiger, or even an enchanted forest in the hands of these young artists.

One key aspect of these sessions was the collaboration between the students and the teaching assistants. These teaching assistants often work as one-to-one support for the students, and the widening participation art activities created a positive and productive shared experience for all participants. They became co-creators in the imaginative worlds that unfolded before us, fostering a sense of camaraderie and shared creativity.

We kept students work on display as we welcomed each group. This led to one group creating characters that might inhabit the previous groups backgrounds. This worked as a way of ‘seeding’ a story and encouraged an indirect dialogue between groups that may not ordinarily interact creatively.

As the sessions overran, it was evident that the engagement levels were very high. The students asked when we were coming back again and what else they could do! This is really positive in terms of next steps when we can look towards extending the session times and introduce more technical equipment.