AS an art teacher Hannah Pearson's goal was to help children express themselves through art.

She fired their imaginations and loved her job but often found the constraints of the national curriculum stifling.

Now Hannah is taking all her classroom experience and offering an arts summer school for the region's six to 11-year-olds.

Freelance artist Hannah, who lives in Fulwood, Sheffield, explained: "I share a lot of frustration with teachers because there's not much opportunity to spend time investigating and exporing art within the classroom.

"For me it's about actually giving children the oppor-tunity to work with different materials.

"Children have got infinite ability but their imagination is not developing as much as it could because they're spending too much time watching television or playing computer games.

"That is not giving them the skills they need to think creatively."
Hannah's Summer Arts Academy will run throughout the summer holiday at King Edward VII Lower School, Fulwood, Sheffield.

The Summer Arts Academy is the only one of its kind in South Yorkshire and Hannah plans to make cross curriculum links within her workshops.
"Talking about art means children are building their vocabulary and these days there's so much pressure in schools to use 'wow' words and adjectives.

"Speaking and listening is such a big part of life.

"I know some children are quite shy and might be put off by the thought of speaking about their art but we don't want that to be the case."

Hannah, who has just completed a writing project for an educational publisher, plans to use an array of inspirational starting points from Greek mythology through to Doctor Who to help stimulate the children's imaginations.

"I've got a lot of friends who have got children and I know how long the summer holiday can be for parents who struggle to keep them busy."
The Summer Arts Academy will run from Monday until August 29 from 10am to 3.30pm with the weekly courses costing £135 and an alternative three-day package for £95.
summer camp is a big hit