About Us
Art To Heart Scheme
Art to Heart is a registered charity unique to The Elton High School Specialist Arts College.
It was established in 2005 and due to its positive impact, continues to be offered as part of our Community Programme.
The charity encourages Year 7 & 8 pupils to make a positive contribution to the local community by visiting residential care homes and other venues to facilitate a range of art experiences. This provides a source of creative stimulation, encourages social interaction which fosters mutual respect between the young and old and enables the generational gap to be bridged through the art making process.
The project runs weekly, and pupils visit different local community groups accompanied by The Art to Heart Co-ordinator to provide these groups with art workshops in their own surroundings. The workshops are free and open to all levels and abilities.
The art workshops range from drawing and painting through to collage, mosaic, collage, pottery, glass painting, textile crafts and card making.
Pupils take on the role of facilitators and instructors guiding and encouraging the clients on a 1:1 basis to engage sucessfully in the proposed activity. This interaction can then lead to a conversation which often results in the mutual completion of artwork.
The community venues involved include residential care homes, respite / day care centres and communication support groups.
Our future plans are to expand the scheme, inviting other schools from across the UK to adopt Art to Heart and deliver it in their local communities to ensure that more pupils and older people experience the benefits. Plans are also in the pipeline to extend the scheme to other curriculum subjects in particular Mathematics and Computing.