a Healthy Schools Transition Fund project
Tree(s) of Knowledge
Tree(s) of Knowledge: a Healthy Schools Transition Fund project for pupils starting at Albion Academy
The Tree of Knowledge is a listed relief mural by artist Alan Boyson and celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2022. As well as being a local landmark it is next door to Albion Academy.
The Tree(s) of Knowledge is a transition and progression project designed to enable Year 6 pupils to connect and progress by exploring local roots, their neighbourhood and creating shared ‘tools’ to support transition.
It includes:
- Forest schools / outdoor learning
- Walking, including to school (both Summer term 2021)
- A visual transition checklist, created by pupils (Spring 2022)
- Creation of a Fanzine (Summer term 2022)
- Growing from within while learning from outside to help support times of change
In addition to Albion Academy young people from the following feeder primary’s were involved:
- Brentnall Primary School
- Lower Kersal Community Primary School
- River View Primary School
- The Friars Primary School
End of Year 6
During the summer term 2021, approximately 40 young people worked in small groups – or tribes – and followed the same programme of introduction, creative (with Start), forest school (with Social Adventures) and storytelling (with Walk the Plank) sessions.
Books of illustrations by Paul Gent were created as a reference point to support the young people in discussions with friends and family and to provide a record of the experience.
You can download each of the illustration booklets here:
- The Friars – Future Red Stars and the Rad Pack
- Riverview – The Undefeated Gang and The Gamer Gang
- Lower Kersal – The Tribe Squad
A short film was also made of the forest school sessions and a podcast of the storytelling walks, again as records of a particular moment on a journey from one place to another and these can be viewed and listened to here:
Beginning of Year 7
Once pupils had started at Albion Academy, the next stage of the project involved the whole of year 7 with sessions delivered by Start and supported by the visual arts curriculum.
Although there is a checklist for when pupils begin primary school there isn’t a similar list for secondary school so we created a list of 14 things and then represented these as icons to create a visual checklist for pupils and a mural for the school.
This part of the project also explored the idea of a lost wall of the tiles of transition (in addition to the Tree of Knowledge mural, Boyson made tiles for the school which have been lost but we wanted to update this digitally with a focus on the theme of transition).
Walk the Plank insight
The pupils’ designs and mural are included here
Moving into Year 8
The final stage of the project was about reflecting and writing to create a fanzine with families and the wider community as well as pupils.
Mary Burns delivered sessions with the initial smaller group of pupils focusing on designing and creating a fanzine as well as art and interview questions.
This was supported by other areas of the Year 7 curriculum and involved community engagement with people who attended the school(s) previously – including an ex pupil who was now building houses on the site and another who is now a councillor!
Walk the Plank insight
The project was delivered by:
- Mr E McCarthy, Head of Year 7 Albion Academy
- Ben, Walk the Plank and creative lead
- Kate, Social Adventures
- Garry, Forest School
- Paul, illustrations
- Nicky, film
- John, drama support
- Austin, Sarah and Danielle, Storytelling Walks
- Sarah and Michelle, Start
- Vicky, Dan and Caroline, checklist of transition design sessions
- Stephen, Louise and Alison, Mary Burys fanzine
- Alexis, evaluator
- The Broughton Trust (developers, work will be taking place on site) and Modernist Society (heritage advisor) also supported the project at key points
The pupils involved in the forest school part:
Adaya, Ady, Aisha, Antonia, Artem, Bailey, Ben, Bob, Brody, Daria, Declan, Dylan, Elijah, Emily, Ester, Freya, Gemma, Holly, Isabelle, James, Jake, Josh, Katie, Lainey Rae, Lillie, Madison, Mia, Missy, Raymond, Sabina, Sarinat, Sivan, Sophie, Sylvia, Theo, Tobias, Tyler, Yousef.
(The pupils in bold were also involved in the fanzine)
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