Halesworth Middle School

The general theme for the 2009 workshops at Bungay Middle school was the importance of myth and narrative in shaping our understanding of ourselves and the cultural life of the community. In the art workshops the emphasis was on interpreting and revitalising local traditional stories, whereas in the context of Religious Studies we were looking more generally at beliefs and values, ways of life, and routines and rituals.

For our follow-up two-day visit to Halesworth we collaborated with local graphic artist Bob Linney. Bob and Head of Art, Pam Charter, used drawing and printmaking to make large scale cloths illustrating the local legend, The Wild Man of Orford. In parallel classes the Sainsbury Centre team and Head of RE, Sue Foster, introduced pupils to artefacts from Papua New Guinea. The objects were examined for clues about what they were used for and what they might represent, which led to group and whole class discussions about different beliefs, spirituality, and cultural identity. These ideas were then used in the creation of small impromptu plays, which allowed pupils to try out different dramatic scenarios.