For the past year, Charly’s been swapping the office for the classroom for a few hours each week, teaching art to primary age children at an after school art club. Here, she tells us more about the fab work the organisers, Art in Action, do in the community.

Art in Action is a local non-profit organisation that provides creative art workshops in schools and for people with specific needs. Run by experienced teachers Rich and Clare Cains, for the past ten years Art in Action has worked with home education groups, mental wellbeing groups, over 50s and after school clubs, tailoring workshops to the participants’ needs to educate, increase confidence and wellbeing, and inspire creativity. I’ve been working with them for the past year and not only is it the best fun, but I’ve also seen first hand how dedicated Rich and Clare are to providing enjoyable creative education across North Somerset.

The school workshops are messy, loud, and meticulously planned to ensure even the youngest children go home having created something they’re proud of – Clare and Rich are brilliant teachers. Watching the children’s confidence grow each week is really rewarding, and I love seeing how a simple prompt or theme can send the children’s imagination off on a wild journey. Plus it’s so much fun getting covered in paint or chalk, showing the children different techniques and chatting about… anything from robots to biscuits.

HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES AND FOOD.

Art in Action is also a HAF (Holiday Activities and Food) programme provider – running holiday clubs for children in North Somerset who are receiving benefits-related free school meals. They provide a fun, safe environment and freshly cooked meals throughout the school holidays. It’s an important service – as of 2023, 15.9% of children in North Somerset were eligible for free school meals. This is 5,017 pupils (up from 4,744 in 2022).

HAF is funded by the Department of Education – you might remember Marcus Rashford encouraging parents to sign their children up for HAF during Covid (here he is talking about it on YouTube).

As of 2023, 15.9% of children in North Somerset were eligible for free school meals – 5,017 pupils (up from 4,744 in 2022).

Working with the Art in Action team at HAF is one of the highlights of my year, I love it. The whole team has loads of experience working with children, from teaching to running after school clubs. Although it’s an arts-based club, Clare and Rich make sure that the sessions are varied to cater to the children who attend. Sport is available every day, and there are workshops such as drama, dance, stop motion animation, slime making, science, and cake decorating. Last summer the children had visits from birds of prey, a space explorer dome, learnt about composting and recycling, and had a visit from the local fire brigade. At Christmas Father Christmas arrived on a motorbike – so much thought goes into making it special for the children.

North Somerset HAF runs during the Christmas, Easter and Summer school holidays. Find more information or book places here.

Contact Art in Action.