Memorandum submitted by Lambert Children's Centre

 

As part of the curriculum at Lambert Children's Centre we strive to develop children's creativity. The curriculum is designed to extend children's creative thinking. Areas of learning are planned so children can make independent choices, return to activities, be inspired by stimulating resources and have time to develop their own ideas. Practitioners work alongside observing play, intervening to develop language and skills and to extend thinking, using knowledge gained from observations to plan exciting provocations to take learning further.

 

For this reason we were delighted to have the opportunity of working alongside different creative partners. Over the last two years several have worked alongside staff and children in the setting, responding to the interests of the children. The input of a variety of artists has been stimulating and has enabled the sharing of ideas and cascading of skills. As planning is now observation led, provocations from artists can be easily incorporated into the daily curriculum. Staff and parents have been able to develop a clearer understanding of the importance of encouraging and developing creative thinking.

 

One event that was a huge success, centred around an Open Day event. As our Centre serves a diverse population, we wanted this to be reflected in the day. It was essential that the day was inclusive and welcoming to all.

As creativity was common to all groups accessing the Centre, we decided to arrange an exhibition of children's work and call it "Through the eyes of a child."

 

As a provocation, we arranged a visit to "The Sculpture Park" at Wakefield. Two creative partners were invited to accompany us on this visit, one to enable children to express their creativity after the visit and the other, a video artist who was asked to capture the process. The resulting video enabled children, parents, visitors and staff from other settings to observe staff working with the children to promote creativity. The artwork and the video were exhibited at the Open day. 567 attended. Many have said how inspired they were by both the exhibition and the video. This was only possible because of funding provided by Creative Partnerships.

Hopefully it will enable others to see the potential of young children in our community and to realise that if provided with a rich and stimulating environment and sensitive adult intervention, children's creativity will develop and they will exceed expectations.

 

If funding for creative partnerships continues we would like to continue to develop projects such as this which we feel have lasting benefits for all involved.

July 2007