Canada Hill School have eagerly celebrated their first biennial arts week since 2018, having postponed previous events due to the Covid pandemic.

Art co-ordinator at the Newton Abbot School, Matthew Bealey, said: ‘Leading on from our Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the theme for the week was Celebrating the Commonwealth. The children found out about traditional art from different commonwealth countries, such as Kente weaving from Ghana and Aboriginal dot painting in Australia.

‘They also learned about some celebrations around the world including the Indian kite flying festival, Rangoli patterns for Diwali and the firework festival in Malta.

‘Classes worked with all teachers in their key stage, who organised workshops enabling the children to work with a range of media and skills – clay, batik, painting, wax resist, kite making and more.

‘Music was a big part of the week with visiting specialists teaching beatboxing, drumming and dance.

‘We were able to access generous funding from The Helen Foundation who, along with DAISI, provided a professional artist to work with groups of children to create a sculpture representing the Commonwealth flag.

‘The week concluded with an exhibition of the art that was created in each classroom and the children spent Friday afternoon, visiting each class and talking about the art that they liked.

‘Through the week, everybody had the chance to try something different, learn new skills and find out about the wider world that we are part of.’