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Art — Narrative & Banners

Summer 1 (6 weeks) · Made by Matt · madebymatt.uk · stencil on cloth · 2026–27

Unit enquiry

What would you carry through the streets — and what would it ask for?

Where this sits

The stencil skill from Autumn 2 moves onto cloth, and the argument built in Spring 2 becomes something a group can carry. This is the unit where the work speaks for somebody.

Kit: calico or tote blanks · card · scissors · acrylic · sponges · masking tape · camera. No screens, squeegees or fabric inks needed.
Painted banners are the authentic form, not a substitute. Trade union and community banners were painted as often as printed. Stencil and sponged acrylic on calico is the real thing, done the real way — it is not a workaround for the absence of a screen bed.

Contextual anchors

Whose voice is on the banner? A banner speaks for someone. If a pupil puts a group, a family or a community on their banner, the honest question — and it is part of the teaching — is whether that group would recognise themselves in it.

Week by week

Week 1: Reading the Banner participation · audience

Enquiry: What is this banner ARGUING?

Three questions of every banner: who made it, who was meant to see it, what was it asking for?

Week 2: Your Emblem participation

Enquiry: Can it read across a room and still mean something?

Diagnostic: squint at it — if it turns to mush it is too detailed. Stencil bridges hold letter islands in.

Week 3: Cloth & Colour creating

Enquiry: What does cloth do that paper does not?

Diagnostic: too wet wicks along the weave; too dry sits on top and rubs off. Card under the calico.

Week 4: Deller, Banners & Who Speaks artist AND organisation

Enquiry: Whose voice is on my banner, and did they agree to it?

Artist Decision Matrix week.

Week 5: Text, Edition & Assembly creating · sharing

Enquiry: How few words can carry it?

Diagnostic: under eight words. Same sponge pressure across the run, or an edition stops looking like one.

Week 6: Pop-Up Installation & Voice presenting · audience

Enquiry: Who met it, and what did they receive?

Hang it where people walk. Capture one visitor’s words on the day, in codes, with consent checked before any recording.

Award mapping — one unit, three jobs

This unit runs in all three rooms with the same materials and the same diagnostics. What differs is the award part it evidences. Every week sheet carries the mapping across all three levels, and the Evidence Locator sorts it at claim time.

No GCSE assessment objectives anywhere. This provision runs Trinity Arts Award only. Never map a sheet to AO1–AO4 and never use GCSE grade bands. Tiers are Supported / Standard / Stretch.
No hours threshold, ever. Trinity’s guided-learning figures are guidance only. The adviser audits parts, not attendance. Every week carries a recovery route evidencing the same part — not a lower route.

What a trained adviser still needs to provide separately

A trained Arts Award adviser must audit the complete personal arts log against current requirements before confirming any claim. The centre is registered and the adviser is trained at Explore, Bronze and Silver.

Artsmark is whole-setting development, not an individual pupil award. Nothing here is Artsmark evidence unless the setting is actually on an Artsmark journey. Partnership activity is logged separately in the staff Arts Partnership Log.

Add locally approved, credited Teesside reference images before teaching. Artist and organisation choices are deliberately left open so they can be approved locally.