Leaves and branches

Esher Church School

After being introduced to Rubens's painting, teachers and pupils from Esher Church School in Surrey chose a related theme for their whole-class projects. Year 1 (five- to six-year-olds) looked at 'houses and homes' and Year 3 (seven- to eight-year-olds) looked at the history of the period in which Rubens lived.

Year 5 pupils (nine- to 10-year-olds) focused on trees. Their starting point was to produce close observational drawings of specimens they had collected and brought into school. They also studied photographs of trees and leaves, and looked at growth patterns. The children then produced artwork of sections of trees using the colours that they saw in early autumn.