Bancrofts Insight Newsletter Autumn 2019 Final

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T R I P S A N D V I S I T S
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“My experience of Hindleap was not bad, I was scared for most of it as I have a fear of heights, so I feared Jacob’s ladder and the climbing
wall. I did enjoy the climbing wall though. I found team building the most were in a forest: just children and a map in our tutor
groups but girls versus got lost and it was chucking it down. It was fun to explore and then get warm. I also enjoyed the night
walk as it was pitch black and we were walking through the mud; it was really fun. But the best bit of HindleapWarren for me was
definitely overcoming my fear of the climbing wall, I got halfway up and I am proud of that. Another good thing was shelter building,
we were all good at it. In conclusion, HindleapWarren was an amazing place everyone should go.”
Thirds at
Hindleap Warren
Zubair Ashraf, 3S
Madhu Sanjeevan, U6S and Puja Sharm, U6E
On the 18 September, U6th and L6th art students embarked
on a journey into the life of Portuguese- born visual artist,
Paula Rego.After a prompt meet up at Euston Station we
travelled to Milton Keynes via aVirgin train which was a new
experience for us both and was one that we would like to
explore again in the near future.
Sixth Form Art Trip
Paula Rego – Obedience & Defiance
Once we arrived at Milton Keynes, we relied on Mrs. O Sullivan
and Mrs.Ward’s navigational skills to get us to the exhibition
and the journey was as exciting as the destination. For us, Milton
Keynes lived up to our utopian ideals with its sustainable grid
street plan, electric vehicle charging points and an abundance
of beautiful flora and fauna; not to mention the futuristic
architecture as well as roads being dropped or raised so
that ground level could be devoted to pedestrians.
Upon arriving at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, we saw
the range of Paula Rego’s work, from her earlier politically
infused abstract paintings to realistic portraits of fairy-tale
inspired scenes, which often hold feminist messages along
with touches of influence from her home country of Portugal.
It was interesting to see the range of her work as it was
displayed over five galleries in an almost chronological fashion,
with each having a very different feel to the last.
As we walked through the gallery, the atmosphere was very
sombre, partially due to the sheer size of the portraits - most
of them depicted at least one whole figure, with some of them
being almost life size.
This was particularly shocking having previously only seen
images of her work in books or on the internet, but also gave
us a chance to see the immense energy of each piece as many
of them such as Sleeper were created with the use of oil
pastels, which gave an incredibly realistic, almost fleshy feel
to them, which was interesting to see in real life.
Following a morning of admiring the work and an enjoyable
lunch, we had the opportunity to draw from observation with
both oil pastels and graphite, much like the artist herself, which
was an experience that we both got quickly absorbed in, so
much so, that before we knew it, it was time to head back to
London. All in all, we found that this was a valuable experience
for us, and enriched our study of A-level art.
All our newThirds visited HindleapWarren, accompanied by
their Tutors and the Junior House Staff, for a mini residential.
Zubair Ashraf gives his account of the trip.