Dinosaurs in the Playground - ACE453.2

Children’s art works, a desolate school playground; children’s VOs describing what they’d like to see in it. Laycock Primary School, Islington, north London. David Cashman and Roger Fagin, former art teachers, with some of the children; commentary says that they believe that "art should be rooted in the everyday life of a local community" and outlines the reasons why they chose this school for their project which include the co-operation of students from St Martin’s School of Art and the Inner London Education Authority. Roy Price, ILEA’s local Divisional Officer, talks about the reasons the Authority support for the project, but says they did not foresee exactly what was going to happen. Caption: "The School Façade. Brickwork Designs." Views of the school; Cashman VO saying that he and Fagin decided that external decoration should reflect what went on inside the building. Fagin and Cashman talking to children about what images they’d like to see on the walls and demonstrating how they’ll go about the actual painting. Children colouring in designs on paper. Robot design; child’s VO describing its character. Other designs with similar VOs: more robots, dog, sun, dragon, people, etc. Commentary says that sixteen designs were chosen from the 300 the children produced. Painting in progress. Cashman VO talking about this project enabling the children to "claim the environment" for themselves, and producing role reversals in which the child acts as adult and the adult acts as child, and the artists act as technicians. The completed images on the building and the perimeter wall.