Hewett Academy’s Creative Arts Go Viral

An Instagram post from Hewett Academy’s Art department, celebrating the creative exploits of Year 11 art students, has garnered substantial national and international attention. The video has gained over one million views and over 115,000 likes since its posting at the start of November.

The exercise explored the theme of ‘Play’ and GCSE students were encouraged to participate in a kinetic performance inspired by the physical and geometric works of American artist, Heather Hansen. The school sourced large rolls of plain copier paper which were being discarded on Facebook marketplace by a local resident. The Hewett Academy Walter Roy Theatre stage was covered by this paper to create their canvas. Students were arranged around this area with graphite sticks and were then given loose instructions to mark their physical space with full-body movements. 

All students that participated enjoyed the activity, exploring art through their movements. Miss Lee videoed the process and posted to the @hewettart Instagram which aims to document and celebrate the creativity of all students in the secondary school. As a result of the video, she has been contacted by artists and art teachers from around the world to share the lesson and subject philosophy. 

Miss Lee, Head of Creative Faculty at Hewett Academy said:

“We are incredibly surprised by the public reaction to this lesson, but delighted that the school has been recognised for its progressive and engaging approach to the arts. We have a highly motivated and talented team who commit a huge amount of time and energy to support the development of creative learning.” 

Creative thinking is part of a set of highly desirable skills and qualities sought by employers such as entrepreneurship, adaptability, innovation, problem-solving, curiosity, imagination and vision.

Hewett Academy, praised for the progress of its students, has four pillars on which it builds its school philosophy: creativity, cultural capital, literacy and a knowledge-rich curriculum. 

Hewett Academy believes in the power of the creative arts for the professional and personal development of its students. The secondary school allocates a significant proportion of learning time to creative endeavours with students taking two hours of art, one hour of graphics and one hour of textiles each week in addition to a rotation of food tech and drama in its very own specialist Theatre. 

Principal of Hewett Academy, Antony Little explained:

“The arts run through the veins of our life here at Hewett and have done for many years. Creativity, for example, is a part of our whole school curriculum vision, with each subject asking what creativity means to them and how we can help our students express it. For the students involved to see their work going viral in this way is an affirmation of the incredible efforts and passion that they put into their work.”