A Creative Outlet: Thongsley Fields Creative Health Story
Children took time to look carefully at the world, and were mesmerised by the play of light and shadows on their drawings
Stella Frampton - Inclusion Lead at Thongsley Fields Primary School - has worked in partnership with Fullscope partners Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination and Cambridge Acorn Project to deliver Artscaping nurture groups for small groups of children to support their mental health. Like a social prescription, Stella selects children who she feels would benefit from this creative health intervention. Thongsley Fields have also participated in Artscaping training to upskill their staff team. Here Stella shares why Artscaping is an important part of the school’s approach to positive mental health – the first of a series of blogs sharing Fullscope’s Creative Health work in education settings.
A never-ending list of children needing support
Stella works tirelessly to support children to get the support they need to thrive in school, working within a Leadership team that understand the importance of pastoral and personal development in providing equity to education for the communities they support. An ongoing challenge for Stella is getting children timely support:
‘I have a never-ending list of children needing additional support. We have a huge number of children with wellbeing needs. It's so difficult for us to do this work ourselves as we don’t have capacity. The waiting lists for referral are horrendous, with children often not meeting the threshold, so we’re then left thinking, what do we do now, whilst this child suffers.’
A Therapeutic and Creative Outlet
For Stella, Artscaping has offered children an immediate therapeutic and creative outlet they don’t have and desperately need to thrive in school:
‘There are limited opportunities for creativity in the school day, and it [the curriculum] can be so prescriptive for the children, with limited outlets, so they can become like a shaken-up coke can. They don't necessarily have opportunities or resources to be creative or access green spaces at home.
Being in nature is such a big thing for our children. Through Artscaping it's that happiness that we see – children who hardly speak beginning to talk with confidence; the sessions supporting emotional regulation; for example, one pupil who is quite new to this country, whose mood and happiness has increased through engagement with the sessions.’
Feeling proud – the children called the woods they worked in The Nature Nest and loved telling others in the school about their work
Enthusiasm from Staff and Parents
Thongsley’s staff involvement with Artscaping – through supporting the Nurture groups, or participating in training, funded by Public Health – has been a really motivating factor that, for Stella, helps Artscaping move from a one-off project to being part of the school culture:
‘The training had a big impact on our staff, in fact one class is beginning to look a bit like a woodland it's so full of nests and eggs and bits of tree! It is enhancing our Forest School curriculum with more creativity - our children really need this.
The knock-on effect is enthusiasm from the children, that then dominos to their parents. Parents are coming to me and saying ‘Please don't make it their last Artscaping session’ as they are seeing the benefits in their child’s demeanor. I think the main thing is that enthusiasm for it and really seeing the value – from both a parent and staff perspective. The parents really notice and appreciate it. They come and thank me and say this is just what their children need. It fills me with joy to talk about it. This enthusiasm is contagious, and so it just becomes part of our school culture as well.’
The nurture groups in 2023/24 are funded by The Evelyn Trust and Cambridgeshire Community Foundation. Groups in 2022/23 were funded by Education Services.