“A Safer Tomorrow”: Hopes for the future
Children at Macaulay, Weelsby and Strand primary academies completed a piece of artwork for ‘A Safer Tomorrow’ art exhibition, which ran in Grimsby Minster for a week in July. The exhibition was coordinated by the NSPCC’s ‘Together for Childhood’ (TfC) project in Grimsby and saw the children learn about growing up in the town, its environment and safe places. The children were asked to produce artwork inspired by their hopes for the future.
Louise Benson, Pastoral Lead at Macaulay answered some questions on the day of the launch:
How did you get the students to engage with the projects?
We have an after-school club called the ‘Green Influencers’ and they’re really into the environment, so they were already fired about all these topics.
Were the topics distributed across the different age groups or were they able to choose themselves?
We spoke a lot about the environment and Dannie Adcock-Habib (NSPCC TfC Grimsby) came in to speak to the children in assembly to introduce the whole topic. The children then thought of the main parts to Grimsby and what stood out to them which helped them determine what their art would be on.
Did the students show interest in the topic itself?
Absolutely! They have been very fired up and eager to learn about this topic.
Dannie Adcock-Habib of NSPCC, Grimsby, elaborated:
How did you make it more engaging for the younger students?
I do a lot of partnership working with the schools; I came in to do workshops. We spoke a lot about what the pupils love about Grimsby, what it means to them to keep their community clean, safe and environmentally friendly. They came up with so many ideas and questions and were extremely engaged. The younger pupils said so much more than we expected, and were the most enthusiastic!
We asked a group of pupils From Macaulay Primary Academy some questions surrounding the subject they have been taught in ‘Green Influencers’.
Olivia, Year 5 from Macaulay Primary Academy, spoke about how “it is really important” to learn about this topic and the most important thing she learnt was to “look after the world and the environment”. Her artwork was based on “Cleethorpes Beach with the sea and sunset” and was pleased with her artwork being hung in the Minster as “everyone can see it”.
Amelia, Year 5 from Macaulay Primary Academy, said she “enjoyed learning about the environment and keeping it safe” and says people need to “not litter and keep the environment safe.” Amelia’s artwork was also based on “a sunset beach”.
Ruby, Year 5 from Macaulay Primary Academy, says she “enjoyed the colouring and learning. I liked that we could go into the Green Influencers and learn all about nature. I know lots about nature now”. Ruby’s artwork was inspired by “Papas which is my favourite restaurant because we were told to paint something that makes us happy and it gave me a happy feeling”.
To find out more about “Together For Childhood” visit https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/our-services/together-for-childhood/