Memorandum submitted by Mrs S Murphy, Headteacher, Shoeburyness High School, Shoeburyness, Southend-on-Sea

 

1. Executive Summary

 

Unique experiences such as B Lab projects enable school to be a formative, memorable experience for developing the whole person in education.

 

2. Introduction

 

As Headteacher of a large Full Service Extended Secondary School in Southend-on-Sea I would like to affirm the value of Creative Partnerships to the development of the diverse range of students in our very large school. Our school exists in a highly selective authority and is made up of many children who consider themselves to be second rate because they failed the 11+ examination. Social deprivation is a significant barrier to the learning of a high proportion of our intake. As a school we work hard to develop the innate creativity of our students and have been recognised as offering a broad and successful creative element within our own curriculum.

 

3. We benefit from a number of Creative Partnerships in our school including the Billboard Project, which has enriched our curriculum offer and provided personalised learning opportunities for students of all abilities and backgrounds to work with professional artists on regeneration themes. The highlight of the experience was the opportunity for 16 Sixth Form students to prepare professional quality presentations at Debate London at the Tate Modern in June 2007. There have been a number of other recent collaborations in our school. One of which involved our students as the focus. Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Road Safety Department sponsor our drama students to perform Theatre in Education plays in many of the feeder primary schools. This enables a full scale professional tour with the students forming a theatre company for a week every autumn.

 

4. The impact of such projects is invaluable to our students and could be described as highly motivating, unique and confidence building. These opportunities must be included in all school curriculums as they have a fantastic effect on the personal, social and emotional development of students and staff.

 

 

 

July 2007