Memorandum submitted by Edgewick Community Primary School, Coventry

 

Information about the school

Edgewick Community Primary School is a small one form entry school, situated on an arterial road into Coventry, and serving a community in the bottom 5% nationally, based on Housing Index and Super Output data. Over 80% of children entering Nursery speak no English and throughout the school 75% speak English as an additional language and enter school significantly below other children nationally. 65% of children are Muslim, both from Asia and Africa. At present 15 different languages are spoken in school.

 

Reasons for involvement

Before engaging with Creative Partnerships, the school had already acknowledged the importance of creative experiences for children who have limited, and often traumatic, experiences of life. These experiences encouraged children to find new ways to communicate and therefore develop confidence, motivation and learning skills.

 

Involvement with CP appeared to offer an opportunity to develop the curriculum more full and also to provide an action research element that would enable us to confirm and measure the effect that creative learning and teaching has on children- especially those with limited vocabulary.

 

The initial benefits

The first projects were very much driven by Creative Partnerships, but were designed to engage children as well as teachers in planning and delivery. The whole school took part in a project on sculpture and the environment, which culminated in installations of children's designs into the outside environment. The Foundation stage worked on a "Second Skin" project that encouraged children to respond to "provocations" stimulation the senses and enabling children to learn from the environment. This project had an immediate impact on the experiences available to the children, and the speed at which language developed. It has changed the planning and delivery of the Foundation curriculum, so that although they continue to learn through play, the quality of the stimuli and the way in which the children respond has improved significantly.

 

School Development

From the outset, School has embraced the strategy whole heartedly. A member of staff was appointed as Creative Coordinator to ensure that links with CP and other agencies, including partnership schools were maintained, of support has enabled the sharing of ideas and experiences and also occasions where children themselves have delivered training and have made links with children at other schools from outside Coventry.

 

Considerable time has been give to staff training, and this has ensured that teachers are involved in projects. Many projects are now instigated directly by school and funded through bids from sources other than CP, although we rely upon CP for the support and advice of our Advisor and some funding to continue the staff development which is a vital port of the strategy.

 

The effect on children's progress

In the year groups where staff have fully embraced the creative ethos, the progress made by children in speaking and listening and in writing has been well above the expected progress. In addition, children's motivation to learn is increased, as is their expectation about how they learn. It is possibly too early to analyse the long term effects this will have on children, but we are certainly beginning to see an up turn in the levels reached by children, and the progress they make.

 

Future developments

We do not see creativity as an "add on" to the curriculum, but as an integral part of it. Neither do we see £7 as focusing on visual arts, drama and musk- although they are very powerful tools We are looking at all subjects and how they can be enhanced- for example using PE as part of a Maths lesson, or using construction equipment to stimulate discussion and writing.

Changes in staff, and the skill level of individuals, means that Creativity is always developing and embedding in school. Some staff members need a great deal of support and reassurance in order to understand the ethos. Not everyone is naturally creative, or find the element of risk taking required within their comfort zone, and it is therefore the specialist support offered £7 that has help us move forward.

 

It seems to us that more than any other initiative, £7 has put the excellence and enjoyment back into the curriculum. It is an ethos that would benefit all schools, whatever their catchment, but without further funding for £7, the professional support would stop, just as the first cohorts were feeling the benefit, and other schools would deprived of the chance to develop.

 

Other evidence.

We have enclosed a selection of work by children in our school, who have benefited from £7 input, which has empowered the class teacher to take risks and rethink how the curriculum could be delivered.

 

Please keep in your minds as you consider this evidence that these children come from one of the most socially deprived catchments in the country.

 

July 2007