arts & culture initiatives

Just like the Horrible Histories episodes, ArtQuest tells a story and follows the journeys of well-loved artists from around the world.  ArtQuest will be delivered to our younger pupils focusing on an Art History education.

Commemorating the life of old boy Royal Marine Billy Atherton, who was killed during the fighting in Normandy, aged only 19. Billy was one of 46 old boys of the school known to have died in the Second World War.

Teachers helped to produce visors to be distributed to key workers in the local area during the first lockdown, May 2020. Producing 235 visors in just two days, the team delivered them to care homes, pharmacies and GP surgeries throughout across Bury.

A staff collaboration to bring people together. Each member of staff created a piece of artwork, consisting of clay and fire crackers! All ceramic vessels are displayed together as one installation as a symbol of unity.

A team of BGS artists produced 144 ceramic poppies to commemorate each Old Boy who fought and died during WWI and WWII.  Each poppy is handmade and contains their name and the school crest

The Maths and Art Departments work together bringing the two subjects aligned. A series of paintings tailor made for the dining room explore mathematical angles and geometric lines.

The first of many joint cross-curricular projects, the Biology and Art Departments worked alongside ceramist Phillip Garrett in designing and learning the facial features within the human head. All these sculptures have a full skeletal detail underneath the layers of clay, which are anatomically correct.

A project that involves all current pupils, staff, Old Boys and Old Girls who receive a key to write a memorable date or memory from their time at Bury Grammar School.
 
All keys will be collated together and displayed as one installation.

An installation exhibiting the final letters sent home to loved ones from our Old Boys during WWI.

Twenty two ceramic Manchester bees cast in to clay to remember the lives lost in the MEN Arena attacks.

Inspired by Graphic Designer Patrick Smith, pupils created their own abstract paintings looking at mental health through a variation of languages in a joint collaboration project between the MFL and the Art Departments.

Celebrating 100 years of women's right to vote. This project was delivered by Miss Halstead (Head of History) enlightening pupils of emotional tales of the suffragettes and suffragists. Pupils captured memories of the times are encased in a body of clay.

'Posting Positivity' is an initiative between Bury Grammar School, Bury Council and Tesco, whereby we asked families to write a letter, create a poem or produce an inspirational drawing which were sent to people in care homes across the town of Bury during the first lockdown. 

These six figures from the national project 'There But Not There' have been donated to the school by The Armed Forces Covenant as a recognition of the long standing links between BGS and the British Forces.

1. Develop confidence.
2. Ensuring a positive and inclusive experience.
3. Develop belonging and ownership.
4. Being authentic.
5. Leadership.

Good wishes sent to us from around the world.

In March 2020, normal day-to-day life as we knew it at Bury Grammar School, suddenly stopped as the pandemic took hold. We are currently living through history, and in the future when we look back, we will be incredibly proud of ourselves for working together and staying strong. Look how much we have achieved as a nation, and of course, as a school.

I've often wondered, in the future when we look back at reports and photographs of this time when it is commonplace to see staggered queues at supermarkets, one way systems in shops and hand sanitisers strategically placed for all to use - that we are living through history. When we see photographs of children and adults wearing gasmasks in boxes slung around their shoulders, of them sitting in air raid shelters waiting out an attack – we know these are from WWII. They’re recognisable. Captured imagery is powerful. In ten, fifteen or even twenty years’ time will we look back at the photographs in the media of people in face masks and instantly know that they were taken during the COVID-19 pandemic?

How would you capture lockdown? How would you depict the world we are currently living in? Can you portray this in a still image? So much has happened over the last 10 months and 21 days… Queen Elizabeth II addressed the entire nation at 8:00 PM on Sunday the 5th of April, shortly after this the Prime Minister was admitted to hospital himself with COVID-19 and then moved to ICU. Limited numbers of people were allowed inside supermarkets, therefore queuing outside at two metres apart. Once inside there was tape on the floor signalling a one way system and other factors to help distance shoppers from each other. Petrol prices dropped to £1.03 per litre because no one was travelling, entire sports seasons were cancelled. No Wimbledon, no end of the football Premiership, no boat race, no London Marathon and a virtual Grand National was held on the 4th of April 2020. The Olympics were postponed, concerts and festivals all cancelled. People became creative and singers played live music on their driveways and on their balconies for all to hear. Communities came together and supported one another.

We launched our own photography exhibition and competition, titled When The World Stood Still. This was open to the entire community of BGS; pupils, families and staff, to capture moments of lockdown.