Unlocking the World through Art, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation, explores new ways to learn, discover and develop together. The seed of the idea first sprouted by a teacher who remarked on the potential for the arts to unlock the world for children with special educational needs. The idea for a sensory atelier was born potentially creating new ways of working for the schools and Attenborough Arts Centre.
This project aligns directly with the visions and aims of The University of Leicester and Attenborough Arts Centre. This gives us the capacity to create a dynamic enrichment programme with special educational need schools, with the potential to share learning and good practice with all schools.
Unlocking the World through Art will create a sensory ateliers; new spaces and processes for children with a spectrum of learning difficulties, communication disorders and disabilities attending two SEN schools in Leicester/shire.
We will be drawing on the principles of Reggio Emilia to explore ways to cultivate imagination and the children’s sense of the possible. It’s a collaborative journey, where children and adults are working alongside each other with a child-led approach and a co-construction model of delivery and development. Together we want to create our own teaching and learning pedagogy that is relevant to us all.
“Experiences of curious investigation, belly laughter, triumphant achievement, heartfelt tears, satisfying discovery and full bodied engagement with the smells, textures and messes of the world”.
