Yesterday I had the honour to visit Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery to view a new installation of student work from XP Doncaster and Norton Junior School. Student representatives from each school joined us to view the work they had produced, discuss this with the curator Neil McGregor and talk to Geoff from our Comms team about the agency and impact of their work.
In the summer of 2025, Years 3 and 4 students at Norton Junior School participated in a Learning Expedition answering the Guiding Question, “What happens when disaster strikes?”. The students explored the causes, preventative measures, and human impacts of both local and international disasters, ranging from fires in Florida to more local disasters like the flooding in Fishlake. As part of their work, they wrote newspaper reports about the 2019 Fishlake floods and applied mathematical concepts of area to co-create a scaled map of Doncaster bordered by disaster-themed artwork. This work now takes pride of place in the Art gallery and in the Frenchgate centre.
The “Being Human” Expedition that is featured in the gallery saw our Year 8 students explore the powerful and important question, “What does it mean to be human?” through an interdisciplinary project spanning Science, Art, History, Geography, and English. Students integrated complex biological concepts with critical inquiries into history and ethics, ultimately synthesising their learning by creating micrography portraits of local healthcare workers to celebrate compassion and resilience. The project culminated in a legacy art exhibition that fostered a deeper understanding of identity, heritage, and the shared human experience. This work was shared with the subjects to display in their work places to honour the important work healthcare workers do every day.
Students were thrilled to see their work on display Sanvii commented, “Honestly, as soon as I saw my art piece, my jaw dropped instantly. I think it’s just crazy that we can even have work up in a gallery.” Mathilda built on this, “You come to this art gallery and think that, oh my gosh, these artists are so amazing. And to think that artwork that we’ve done is now up in an art gallery is just amazing.”
The exhibition is available to view at the gallery for the rest of July and into August – I strongly recommend you visit and enjoy the rest of the exhibits and the museum.
I’d like to thank DGLAM and Neil McGregor, in particular, for his support in allowing our young people to display their beautiful work.
*STOP PRESS*
What an uplifting end to the term. Just as I was about to leave for the holidays, two wonderful products were placed in my hands. The first was an absolutely stunning game designed and created by Key Stage One pupils at Norton based on Doncaster and sponsored by LNER. The game takes players on a journey through our city! It is full of authentic, high quality work… And then a beautiful undated calendar, designed so that it can be reused, arrived. This was created by Lower Key Stage Two pupils at Plover and again is crammed with beautiful artwork, handwritten poetry, scientific facts and letters. All designed to answer the Guiding Question, ‘How Can We Protect Our Beautiful Planet?’
It is an honour and privilege to work in a place that elevates beautiful work, grows character and has high expectations of the young people we care for.
In Crew
Andy Sprakes
