KS2 Workshops

Pupils creating art on a windowColouring our environment

Pupils will explore how artists use colour to capture the look and feel of the world around them. They are encouraged to look closely at the buildings and colours of the environment and use colour theory to examine artworks and help inform their own compositions. Manchester’s skyline is the inspiration for group responses that capture and celebrate the fusion of old and new in the urban environment.

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Drawing on IdentityLooking at art

Inspired by image and individuality pupils explore sculpture, textiles and interactive art to help them understand the different ways artists represent and construct identity. They create and follow a line through the gallery as they layer ideas, transform materials and create an experimental sketchbook. In our studios they use themselves as the starting point to turn expressive drawings into three-dimensional wire sculptures.

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Children in a workshopSettings for stories

Using curious objects and historical and imaginative paintings as settings, pupils bring the collection alive using drama techniques that extend into movement and the development of sounds. Their ideas and resulting performances are documented on DVD so that these can be developed back in school into a range of creative writing outcomes, including the development of stories.

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Moving to Victorian Pupils in a workshopManchester

Pupils meet a 19thcentury rural family who are leaving the countryside to embark on a new life in Manchester. Using role play and drama they empathise with both the rich and poor through the exploration of work and leisure activities. Pupils use these experiences as they debate with philanthropist Thomas Horsfall whether he should have created The Manchester Art Museum in 1884 to educate the working class.

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A pupil dressed up as Henry VIIIChanging power in Tudor Times

The year is 1485 and the Tudor dynasty is just beginning….
Pupils step back in time and witness the victory of Henry VII at the battle of Bosworth Field. Using drama and roll on the wall, they follow Henry VIII from a young boy thrust into a world of power to a king desperate for a male heir and explore decisions he made. Through these experiences they examine the structure of Tudor society and the events surrounding the English Reformation.

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Deciding fates in Ancient GreeceChildren voting

Pupils are introduced to Zeus, leader of Ancient Greece’s Gods and begin to think about the job he has to do. Is it easy having so much power? Does he always make the right decisions? Other gods and goddesses are introduced through our architecture, paintings and ceramics. Exploring myths and legends along the way pupils debate and use the power of persuasion to decide whether Zeus is the right god for the job.

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To make a booking or for further information please contact us on

Tel: 0161 235 8842
Fax: 0161 235 8899

Artists in Schools

Children participating in workshop
Look at our Artists in Schools offer