Subjects Woven Together in Textiles Workshop
Friday, 31 January 2020
An exciting textiles workshop wove together History, Geography, Art and Design, Language, Mathematics and British Values for Year 4 pupils. The year group became textile apprentices for the day under the guidance of Mrs Soper and Mrs Fell, pupil Beatrix’s mum and aunt, who visited school as representatives of the print and textiles company Stead McAlpin.
Pupils printed their own silhouettes onto a specially designed Bolton School fabric to mimic a ‘Victoria and Albert’ chintz designed by the Queen herself, which incorporated portraits of the royals hidden amongst flowers. Girls learned how to create their own repeating design using the same techniques that would be used on an industrial scale to move from initial drawing to finished product.
Year 4 heard about the history of the textiles industry from Mrs Soper and Mrs Fell, including where dyes come from and what was used to make different colours. They had the opportunity to handle historical artefacts from Stead McAlpin, as the company dates back to the 1800s.
The day was also linked to Year 4’s Roman topic: additional activities helped them to discover Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, endings and transitions. They used their silhouette drawings to make Janus portraits and Roman coins.
Year 4 teacher Mrs Worsley said, “Extended learning opportunities such as these are invaluable – questions asked, young minds alerted, future careers in the making!”
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