Memorandum submitted by Trinity C of E Primary School, Wolverhampton

 

Evidence supplied by:

 

1. Julie Slater, Deputy Head Teacher, Trinity C of E Primary School, Wolverhampton. Produced in consultation with Noel Dunne, Creative Agent.

 

2. Trinity C of E Primary School has been involved with Creative Partnerships since 2003. We became involved due to a desire to find new ways of engaging our pupils in learning. We are a multi-ethnic inner city primary school and most of our pupils experience the difficulties of families living with high deprivation factors.

 

2.1 Creativity has been a Key Issue within the School Development Plan (SDP) since 2002. Initially, creative projects supported learning in a variety of subject areas. In 2004, as a school we developed a creative science curriculum. This has since led to cross-curricular, thematic approaches across the whole curriculum. Our pupils have a greater voice in their learning experiences and our local community is more involved with projects than ever before. We feel that we are developing a creative curriculum which both inspires and motivates. This in turn is leading to a rise in standards across all Key Stages.

 

3. Our experience of introducing creativity into education: the impact it has had on:

3.1 Young People:

 

3.1.1 It has really helped children become more independent learners from a very early age. This is because creative approaches place children at the centre of the learning experience and puts them very much in control of their learning. They thus become more confident and able learners across curriculum areas.

 

3.1.2 Developing communication skills, particularly speaking and listening skills, is a significant issue for the school. We have seen considerable developments in this area due to adopting more creative approaches to the delivery of the curriculum: for example a cross curricular animation project in year 4 that prompted one child to observe that one of the best things to emerge from the project was that she was able to 'talk with teachers about what might be the best ways of doing things and helping them help us better.'

 

3.1.3 Aside from practical skills in the art forms that were used as the means of developing learning, children themselves identified that the creative approaches had supported their learning in a number of other ways:

'Turning ideas into pieces of work'

'Making judgements - knowing what a good idea is and what isn't and being able to say why'

'Being able to focus and concentrate more - you just have to do it'

 

3.2 Teachers:

 

3.2.1 We are increasingly embedding the thinking and practice into everyday delivery. For example:

· We now run themed days every term for literacy, numeracy and science.

· We have developed a creative problem solving wheel to foster independent thinking.

· We are instigating activities like culture day to create a broader range of creative activities for the children

 

3.2.2 The skills that have been developed through creative activity have been disseminated to other staff. For example, teachers not directly involved in some of the creative projects have had a go with using the animation techniques or improvisation techniques and incorporating them into their lessons because they can see how these creative approaches bring curriculum areas to life.

 

3.3 The wider school community:

 

3.3.1 The opera project was one of the largest scale initiatives that the school has ever been involved with and the first time we had worked in such a way with other schools. The value of the experience is evident in our desire to work with other schools again on a joint large scale creative venture. It brought us regional and national profile on the television and in the press. For a school like ours, with the communities we serve, this is incredibly significant in terms of proving the value and worth of both the school and the talent and achievement of the children to the parents of our school. As one child put it:

'This has made us feel proud of what we've done and proud of our school.'

And one parent said 'I am so proud of him. I can't believe what he has just done. Just look at how confident he was. I cried my eyes out'

 

3.3.2 The seaside project has been a magical experience for our school and local community. Many of our children would probably never visit the seaside, but artists and staff have helped them to experience this first hand. After visiting Weston Super Mare, the children confidently presented their experiences to a packed audience through Art, Drama, Music, Dance and E learning. Parents, carers and friends of the school felt a part of the experience when looking at video footage. They are looking forward to sharing the experiences themselves when the seaside arrives at the school very soon. This shared learning has strengthened school-parent partnerships.

4. Conclusion:

4.1 Creativity is now at the heart of our practice. All our staff meetings revolve around teaching and learning: it is practice driven and children need driven reflection and planning.

 

4.2 This is reflected in adopting more of a thematic approach to year 6 teaching and incorporating appropriate creative interventions to add value to the learning experience. This has been reflected in considerably raised SATs results.

2007 Science 95% level 4 and above (54% level 5)

English 95% level 4 and above (27% level 5)

Maths 84% level 4 and above (25% level 5)

 

This has validated our belief that it is possible to improve standards and adopt a more creative approach to teaching and learning that more effectively engages children with education.

 

 

July 2007