Memorandum submitted by Andrew Flack, Corporate Director for Children and Young People, Derby City Council

 

I I am offering this submission as Corporate Director for Children and Young People (the statutory Director of Children's Services) for Derby City Council. I am also a member of the Creative Partnerships Local Partnership Board for Derby, and have been involved with the initiative since its establishment hem.

 

2. Creative Partnerships was established in Derby in 2004. For some time, headteachers and their staff in Derby schools had pressed for more creative approaches to teaching and learning, in the belief that this would ultimately bring the desired improvements in key stage attainments, whilst developing more sustainable good attitudes to learning.

 

3. Derby's annual residential headteachers' conferences have regularly involved high quality speakers with national and international status, who have promoted the same cause. The opportunity to establish Creative Partnerships in the city was therefore very welcome, and we are now beginning to see the fruits of this initiative.

 

4. As Director of Education at that time, my expectations of Creative Partnerships were that it should:

· give schools the opportunity to develop more creative and imaginative approaches to teaching and learning

· promote higher levels of motivation and engagement amongst pupils

· develop the skills required of school leavers of the future

· raise levels of attainment in key stage tests and broader achievements.

 

5. In his 2007 Mansion House speech the (then) Chancellor, Gordon Brown noted .... we need to ensure all schools are committed to high standards and are at the same time centres of creativity, innovation and enjoyment. Ready to challenge and inspire nourishing all forms of talent - because that is the future of our nation'. Work under Creative Partnership can make a major contribution to these aims.

 

6. Creative Partnerships has enabled a number of core schools (16 in Derby) to work with partners from the creative industries to address their own school aims through specific initiatives. Other schools have now begun to be involved, through the extension of the core schools and through outreach work. A considerable number of partners from the creative industries have been engaged, are enthusiastic about the role, and are developing sustainable ways of involvement

 

7. For the first two years of the initiative, schools have been involved in establishing the necessary partnerships and initiatives. Over the last year, the impact of the projects is becoming apparent. The findings of the Ofsted evaluation of Creative Partnerships are evidenced in local schools, i.e:

 

 

 

"Pupils benefited from working with creative practitioners, particularly in terms of their personal and social development... .Some of the attributes of creative people were also developed: an ability to improvise, take risks and collaborate with others".

 

"Often the outcomes of programmes could be seen in changed attitudes and behaviours, and the demonstration of creative approaches to work. This represents a significant achievement: it included teachers who previously lacked belief in their own creativity and ability to inspire creativity in others, and pupils who were previously unconvinced by approaches to learning or the value of education".

 

"Although schools were unable to show a direct correlation between the baseline attainment of the pupils involved, their development of specific skills through Creative Partnerships programmes and their progress in achieving generally higher standards, all believed that the involvement had played a significant part".

 

8. As noted by Ofsted, it is too soon to show specific improvements in attainment and link them directly to the work of Creative Partnerships. Nevertheless, headteachers with long and successful experience and a strong knowledge of factors relating to raising standards, have a firm belief that the work carried out under Creative Partnerships is really making a difference. The expectations outlined above are being met, ie:

 

· the curriculum is altogether richer through Creative Partnership work

· there are high levels of staff enthusiasm and motivation arising from work with creative partners

· in turn, pupils are more motivated through engagement with these projects and this has a broader impact on their engagement in school

· there are opportunities for the involvement of families and the community supporting Extended School's initiatives.

 

9. Such initiatives clearly have significant potential for supporting schools where standards are not meeting expectations. However, there also need to be strong, confident schools supporting these developments and disseminating good practice. An appropriate balance therefore needs to be struck. A creative curriculum arguably demands more rigour and stronger leadership.

 

10. Finally, the major agenda for Children and Young People's Services nationally is the "Every Child Matters" agenda. In order to strive for ever higher standards of achievement, every child's motivation matters and every child's creativity matters. Creative Partnerships is showing that it can play a very significant part in promoting this.

 

 

 

July 2007