FOR pupils of Churcher’s College Junior School arts week has been an action-packed Roman triumph.

Staff at the Liphook school decided to work on the National Gallery Take One Picture Project and focus on Ruben’s Roman Triumph. The aim of the project was to develop creativity and thinking skills throughout the curriculum by focusing on a single picture in a variety of curricular areas.

Children came to school dressed in Roman attire and the assembly was full of emperors, gladiators and Roman ladies, while the highlight of the day was the Roman procession witnessed by some parents at the end of the school day.

Jose Barco led the workshops for children and his enthusiasm in rehearsing and leading the procession across the playing fields was remarkable.

Following the workshop the MUSE club produced an interactive soundscape display in which the painting was brought to life by sounds from the procession. 

Other activities during the week included working with students from Chichester University and an outdoor lesson on Roman aqueducts.

Pupils studied Roman dyes in science and looked at natural sources of colour as well as studying Roman numerals in maths and focusing on the characters in the painting in English. 

In ICT, surreal pictures were created based on the painting and Rubens cubes have been generated. In modern foreign languages children focused on the parts of the body they could see, Roman structures were studied and an introduction to Latin was provided by a senior school pupil.

Others enjoyed a trip to Southampton Art Gallery where they learnt about the myth of Medusa and produced a two colour poly-bloc print, whilst some children were lucky to have illustrator Rupert Davies who taught the class how to draw a Roman character and add a watercolour wash. Watercolour artist and silk painter Sharon Hurst, worked with the infant classes creating an amazing trio of silk banners and also gave a masterclass in silk painting.

Older pupils created an impressive installation based on Roman mosaics while others painted, decoupaged, designed mosaics and made papier mache fruit for the elephants, they created whch were inspired by Rubens’ painting.

The week ended with a Roman lunch of pullum frontonianum (chicken), panis plebeus (bread) and secunda mensa (dessert).