Making art accessible at Claremont School

Assembly has just started in the big hall at Claremont Primary School, tucked alongside Henleaze Infant and Junior schools. The children form a semi-circle, listening to this week’s notices, while covering the wall to their left is a bright mural showing hot air balloons floating above the Clifton Suspension Bridge. Created by artist Cai Burton, it has been designed as a way to enrich the curriculum within this school for children who often have complex disabilities.

“There used to be another mural on that wall, and it was 23 years old,” says Kim Cobbledick, lead teacher of primary and early years lead at Claremont. “It had got so faded, most of the time people were putting displays on top of it. It was beautiful, but it was all in pastel shades so for children with visual impairments I doubt they could see much of it.”

Kim Cobbledick has been overseeing the mural project at Claremont

Conversations about wanting to develop art as a subject within the school encouraged Kim and the staff to look at creating another mural – one that the pupils could feel ownership of. Each of the four classes came up with a theme, and Cai sketched up concepts for each. The students, school council, governors and parents voted for their preferred design.

“There was an overwhelming majority!” laughs Kim. “I think it really appealed because you could clearly see how the children could get involved in designing the balloons. It could really reflect their individuality.”

Many of the 65 students from both the Henleaze site and Claremont’s secondary school in Redland participated in a series of art workshop that Cai ran. They designed balloons that were creative and colourful, putting together patterns that would feed into the final mural.

“The sessions were about encouraging students to express their creativity,” Cai says. “For some, this meant using their hands and fingers to paint. For others, it was about making decisions about what colours and shapes to use. Choice plays a huge part in what art these students create, and when working with students that were non-verbal, it was still important that they made the decisions.”

Students who have visual impairments make up roughly half of the school’s population, so it was important that it was bright and bold. The contrast of the black and white patterns, along with interactive elements like a balloon made from a reflective blue paper, make the mural as accessible as possible.

Artist Cai Burton ran workshops with the students at Claremont School to involve them with the mural. Photo by Scuba Lux Creative

Alongside classes dropping into the hall to watch the mural develop, Kim also took the opportunity to enrich the curriculum at the school, transforming an old office into a blacked-out sensory space with balloons hanging from the ceiling. A video of a night glow also ran in the dedicated sensory room with its wraparound projection screen.

“We still feel that the concept of a hot air balloon is quite big for our children, and even when you see them in the sky, you don’t get a sense of how big they are,” Kim says. She has arranged for Nick Langley from the Airship and Balloon Company, based in Henbury, to bring a hot air balloon onto the school field. “It should bring it to life for them,” Kim says.

The finished mural, featuring balloons designed by Claremont students. Photo by Scuba Lux Creative

While the mural has certainly brightened up the hall for weekly assemblies, its real purpose has been to bring art and expression to the pupils. “It’s been a really lovely process,” Kim says. “It was really nice for the children to be involved and to see it develop, rather than just appear. They’ve reacted really positively to it. And all the staff have really enjoyed it – they’ve been popping in every five minutes to see how it looks!”

Video and main image by Scuba Lux Creative

Read more: Inclusive work