The Round House Primary Academy

This fantastical map was made collaboratively and contains over 100 layers of drawings and words and ideas, incorporating the work of children and adults alike – all carefully connected by illustrator Elena Arévalo Melville.

We think of this as a fantastical map because it combines real and imaginary places and stories. We explored many ways of adventuring in and around the Round House Primary Academy and Love’s Farm together as individual school classes and during our 24 hour Fantastical Love’s Farm Community Day.

Many of our creative adventures began by spending time playing with renaming streets and spaces – seeing the everyday in new unexpected ways.  The key below indicates how some of the elements on this map were created:

Playing with renaming streets and spaces; walking and seeing the everyday in new ways – new names created included Slug Neots, Leafton and Great High Sky, a clearing became the Corn Field of Happiness and the hill was renamed Snake Path.

Discovering and imagining underground histories -  a Round House, Greek Goddess Minerva, skulls and bones.

Real and fantastical mythologies – James Toller’s fantastical playground and ‘the pig washed with wood’.

Real leaves from Auntie’s Woods and ‘Love’s Farm Blooms’ – community planting to create pondering places.

Exploring in miniature to open a whole new world – pond, forest snail, Dutch elm disease and fantastical flowers.

Looking up to explore real and fantastical thoughts and creatures – A Sky Goddess, her parliament of owls and bats.

Real landmarks including the school, Cambridge Road, Auntie’s Woods (renamed the Tree Land of the Mythical) and the train line.

(Helen Stratford, producer of our Fantastical Love’s Farm Community Day at The Round House Primary Academy, looks back on the day)  With thunderclouds gathering, we start the 24hrs with some trepidation. It begins with some fantastical tasters at the school fair on Friday afternoon in anticipation of the big day on Saturday.

Parents and children crowd around the Fantastical Bookmarks, created by 8 and 9 year olds, chatting to Arts and Music Coordinator Mrs Rodgers and Year 3 teacher Mr Colborne who are running the stall. Next door the amazing Minerva world takes shape at the hands of families with CCI artists Sally Todd and Filipa Pereira Stubbs. Lengths of the Cairngorms and Italy form the skirt and legs of the goddess Minerva, whose archaeological discovery during construction of Love’s Farm has inspired children throughout the residency. The nearby tent of extraordinary sounds is adorned by Fantastical Cambridgeshire bunting specially designed by the children. Later, the tent’s wonderful night time wildlife sounds inspire amazing drawings of volcanoes, thunder and fantastical worlds by children at Love’s Farm House youth group with Jo Holland and Helen Tame.

At 3.30 on Friday 30^th June we started our fantastical 24 hour adventure with families in and around Love’s farm. We worked alongside expert children, The Neotists, St Neots Museum, teaching staff and all sorts of enthusiasts and together we had an extraordinary day.. With hundreds of people on the Friday and almost 200 more on the Saturday it was our busiest Fantastical Day ever. Below is a flavour of the day – from producing the magnificent Minerva and her parliament of owls to drawing surprising sounds and creating fantastical stone creatures.

We came with an open mind and it was so different, so great for kids (Dad).

I learnt why the Round House is called the Round House (Leah).

I loved going to the woods (Grace).

The museum objects were really interesting (Dad).

I liked collecting things to put in the sticky things (Stephanie).

The tent of extraordinary sounds was so different – hearing frogs and ladybirds and wasps. And I loved Colour my park (Iestyn, 8).

(by Joanna Holland)

Until June CCI artists have worked in residence with 7 and 8 year olds at The Round House Primary Academy. But today was different. Today the whole school was invited to adventure creatively in and around their school and Love’s Farm alongside CCI artists and teachers.

(by Filipa Pereira-Stubbs) Back in the classroom, Goldfinches gathered all their experiences over the past weeks. Remembering thoughts and using their sketchbooks as inspiration they created a fantastical map together.

Wonderful new Minervas and James Tollers which had been created with Mrs. Gregorious, were cut out and  placed carefully into the map.  The woods became more huge, and rich - filled with imagined and remembered creatures.  Beautiful designs inspired by our micro drawing informed the map borders.

A township grew up amongst the feet of James Toller giants.  And a favourite place was featured - the marshy pond, where earlier in the day the children had explored the whispering grasses and unseen creatures.

My sketch books says I can draw whatever I want to.  Zara
It’s called Fantastical so why not have fun, why not climb trees... Bradley.

(by Filipa Pereira Stubbs)

Goldfinches finished their last morning in Auntie’s woods. With long pieces of paper, they carefully mapped the woods together.

The woods were filled with impressions, stories, associations, feeling, sound and images. The shadows created by the dappled sunlight were a particular attraction, as was trying to map the wind.

(by Filipa Pereira-Stubbs) Our last residency day with the Goldfinches and the sun shone even as the wind blew. The children set off to map the immediate landscape - we had walked the streets once before, but now took the time to settle into landscapes and draw what we saw. We imagined new place names and thought about how naming a place could reflect an experience that had taken place there.

Perspective became an intriguing riddle.  We played with scale and drew landscapes to their horizons, drawing the tiniest of flowers in detail.  Some children experimented with using flowers and grass to bring colour into our drawings.

I can feel the air.  Jed
My street’s going to be called - Cold Valley ....or Freezing Valley because it’s cold and it is a little bit freezing. Paige
I’m calling it Danger Zone because at night the Foxes come out. Ronnie
My pencil’s bigger than a lamppost and a house. Alex
Now me and Daisy are in Stone Daffodil land.  Paige

(by Sally Todd)

We have been loaned a collection of beautiful fragile bones by the Cambridge University Museum of Zoology and set these up for the children to explore - an ancient turtle skulls and skulls from a dog, a turkey and some rabbits.  Working with white pencils and white chalk on black paper; different skull and bone shape drawings were created.  

We think about what lies beneath the ground we are working on.

Amulet by Ted Hughes

Inside the wolf’s fang, the mountain of heather.
Inside the mountain of heather, the wolf’s fur.
Inside the wolf’s fur, the ragged forest.
Inside the ragged forest, the wolf’s foot.
Inside the wolf’s foot, the stony horizon.
Inside the stony horizon, the wolf’s tongue.
Inside the wolf’s tongue, the doe’s tears.
Inside the doe’s tears, the frozen swap.
Inside the frozen swamp, the wolf’s blood.
Inside the wolf’s blood, the snow wind.
Inside the snow wind, the wolf’s eye.
Inside the wolf’s eye, the North star.
Inside the North star, the wolf’s fang.

(By Filipa Pereira-Stubbs and Sally Todd)  This poem inspired our afternoon. Hughes wrote about the process of hunting for words, as one would a living creature.  Inspired by shamanic experiences, the relationship between the imagination and nature, and believing that words have the power to summon, evoke, call forth, Hughes was interested in a circular form of poetry, but witnessed rawly and first hand, situated by being in the landscape.

In previous sessions we have been exploring the minuscule and the enormous, finding story, form and details in both.  In Amulet, the narrative moves from the fang of the wolf to the horizon to the tear drop to the wild woods. We invite the children to explore this shifting of viewpoint, sending themselves far off into the edges of the landscape and horizon A place around us and then back into the tiny detail. Sally asks: Can we close our eyes to imagine what it would be if we were there?

It's a circle, it keeps going inside. The first one is the wolf's fang. And the last one is the wolf’s fang. James

I was in the middle of a forest. Ben

When I was imagining I saw a wood. Walking by I saw the wolf and it jumped at me. James

I could imagine all the places where the wolf’s parts were. Joe

The children were invited to create their own Amulet poems, inspired by their morning of adventuring and adding images if they wanted.

Inside a bat is a wing
Inside the wing is wind
Inside wind is a bat's eye
Inside a bat's eye is the park
Inside the park is the bat
Michael

Inside the snail's shell is the grass
Inside the grass is the snail's back foot
Inside the snail's back foot is the dirt
Inside the dirt is the snail's eye
Inside the snail's eye is the log
Inside the log is the snail's shell
Iestyn

The Time After Minerva
Inside St. Neots is Love's Farm
Inside Love's Farm is Round House School
Inside Round House School is Wagtails class
Below Wagtails class is some animal bones
Below animal bones is a mammoth tusk
Below the stone age axe is the statue of Minerva
Tiarna and Nia

(by Filipa Pereira-Stubbs and Sally Todd) Our penultimate adventuring day, and the forecast for rain has come true.  The rain falls more or less steadily all day long.  Prepared and undaunted all year three children set off, many with umbrellas swinging cheerfully in the lull before more rain.  Wagtails head one way, Goldfinches another.  We explore the immediate landscape of Love’s Farm, following routes around familiar streets, locating where people live (even the teachers) and where things happen and remembering stories.  Before we head out we remember how an artist mapographer might set off on a new adventure - finding the unknown in the familiar landscape.  We are walking, dreaming, noticing, thinking, listening, and sharing.  For once, we are not drawing.

We stop and really drink in what we see around us.  Walking through a puddle It’s very very very deep. We notice the shades of grey sky reflected in the puddle.  We are drawn to details -  skylines of rooftops, markings on drain covers, the slope of the street, the colours and shapes of leaves, colours, sounds…..square bent leaves…paw shaped leaves…the wind is quiet,I mean, loud and quiet….circles getting bigger and bigger and bigger…greyey-blue ..navy-blue..dark-blue.. pink-reddish…look a leaf, crumbled and old.

In the afternoon, inspired by our trip to the woods and the famous 8ft man James Toller, Wagtails and Goldfinches collaborated on creating giant trees and characterful giants including an alien rock star and Mrs Toller.

It was fun because you got to draw everything Lacey T

It was hard working in groups of eight. Yasmin

I thought it was helpful for our normal work in school…working in teams Joe

At the end we were measuring how tall the giants were in people and the trees were three and a half people Ben

I didn’t think our drawing was good until I got up to leave and then saw it and it was amazing Nia

Today has been the most amazing day.I have enjoyed it the most so far. Jayden

Thus the miniscule, a narrow gate, opens up an entire world. The details of a thing can be the sign of a new world which, like all worlds, contains the attributes of greatness.
Gaston Bachelard

(by Sally Todd and Filipa Pereira Stubbs) In The Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard compares the botanist and his magnifying glass with that of the enlarging gaze of a child. Today we took out magnifiers to look more closely at the natural world, collecting plants and making nature slides…we gathered tiny petals, leaves like hearts, blood colour leaves and fairy seedlings.

(by Filipa Pereira Stubbs and Sally Todd) Back in the classrooms, we were busy with enriching our sketchbooks and continuing our travelling line.

We enlarged extraordinary Minerva goddess drawings, and aligned them along the corridor.

I love nature, and in the sky, I even love it under the waves. Michael

Your imagination comes from you.  Niamh

(by Sally Todd and Filipa Pereira-Stubbs) On our second day at Round House we offered sketchbooks to the Year Three children and thought about how we might use them throughout the project.

To remember what you’ve seen (Raphael)..in case you come across something you like, then you can quickly sketch it (Holly)….sometimes when you get stressed out you might want to draw a picture (Haydn)…It’s a book where you write your ideas down (Finn)….a sketch book is a book that you keep with you all the time so if you have an idea you can write or draw in it so you don’t have to go all the way home but then forget your idea at the end (Gabriella)…the way I look at a sketch book is that you don’t always draw, like me I have wrote in it (Oscar)

The sketchbooks began to be animated with some of our earlier drawings; cutting, reassembling, folding, sometimes adding newly drawn pathways as we placed each piece. We also used our sketch books to write down questions as they came into our mind, so we would be able to think about them later.

The books got named too: My Book of Drawing, Book of Exploring, Adventure Book to name just a few. Mr Colborne noticed that all the sketchbooks looked really distinct.

(by Filipa Pereira-Stubbs and Sally Todd) After lunch on our first day we worked in our classroom groups (Sally with Wagtails and Filipa with Goldfinches).  We reflected on different aspects of our map making project:

What is an explorer?

Someone who likes going on adventures, and exploring new things.
Ladies, men, girls, boys.
Everybody can be one - we all go on adventures. Marleigh

What is an artist?

An artist goes somewhere to find something to paint, and then they paint it.
I might put art on the fridge with magnets. Sezin
A really good person who paints…if they want to challenge themselves they go outside and draw people. Iestyn
An artist creates an image off of their mind or a real thing.  Zak

What is a cartographer?

This was a bit more puzzling

A scientist? Russel
Going round the world like Howard Carter? Reggie
A person who takes photos in the wild? queried Jayden

We weren’t sure, but after talking about it, we decided a far better word would be a mapographer - someone who makes maps.  During this project we are going to be experience what it is like to be explorers, artists and “mapographers”.

We then challenged ourselves to draw a map of our home in 5 minutes only.

Then we found an area in the school grounds, and taking paper with us - different sizes, small, square and long - we looked, listened, noticed, drew, investigated this area. The pond area, the climbing trail and landscaped rock area were all investigated. The rock area has different parts and many names:

rock circle, rock pit, probably rock area, rock star, stone maze, blank space, really nothing there circle

(by Filipa Pereira-Stubbs and Sally Todd) To mark the collaborative spirit of the project, we began with both the Year 3 classes (known as Wagtails and Goldfinches) and their teachers together in the hall.

We introduced ourselves as visitor artists and began to talk about Fantastical Cambridgeshire, adventuring and mapping. We will be making our very own Love’s Farm map, exploring places around the school grounds and beyond in the local landscape. This map will be made up of the many layers and explorations that we embark on and share together over the weeks to come.

We will be doing a lot of drawing and a first activity was to take a line for a walk.

An active line on a walk moving freely, without goal. A walk for a walk's sake.
Paul Klee

It was important to begin this project by spending time with all the educators at the school. We were able to have two precious hours with all the teaching support staff in the afternoon and then all the classroom teachers that evening once the children had gone home. We wanted to take time to give a sense of how the children might work with us and how we begin a creative process and invite child led research and thinking.

We brought in a selection of our favourite maps from across the ages, viewing them through the old-fashioned screen of an overhead projector. We gave groups their own maps to re-imagine in new ways encouraging them to add personal elements and enjoy playing with the range of simple materials  - inks, pastels, paper, scissors. Tom, Max, Ben and Alex described theirs as both a digital and abstract map of the world and mankind - we’ve put ourselves here in the corner ready to pounce, whilst for Frankie and Hannah and Hannah all the numbers and journeys and places they included in theirs had a personal meaning for each of them.

The range of responses struck everyone and we took time to notice the differences and think about how these ways of working could benefit the children in the school:

Year 6 need to experience this.

We noticed how we all had different approaches.

There’s so much around us that we call creative but it all ends up looking the same.

The social thing that is part of this way of working can really help our children….can support them to learn to work with each other.