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Memorandum submitted by Bill Elgar, Acting Deputy Head, George Salter High School, West Midlands
Executive Summary
Creativity helped save our school. Though melodramatic that statement could very well be true. Three short years ago George Salter High School was on the verge of closure with predicted GCSE results in the single figures for 5 A*-C at GCSE. A Federation with nearby Shireland Language College allowed the sharing of expertise and a lifting of some of the financial constraints which had seen resources and facilities reach rock bottom. However resources alone do not capture the imagination and fire the ambition of young people. It was creative learning and teaching that did that.
Firstly to raise morale and self esteem we had a whole school balloon launch. Students attached a note summarising their ambitions onto the balloons which were released on a beautiful sunny day and returned over the following days from miles around. For a school with horrendous attendance issues and behaviour problems to have all students together engaged in a constructive, shared venture was a giant step forward.
A link had been forged with Black Country Creative Partnerships that allowed the creation of the film Home - a study of the impact on a newly arrived Polish family of life in West Bromwich. Other film projects followed and relationships were developed with the Health Authority and other local organisations and businesses. We also worked closely with the community to establish a school magazine (copies of which are enclosed) which was funded by the Greets Green Partnership and printed locally. We now produce the magazine ourselves which demonstrates the sustainability of the projects we get involved in.
During this period 5A* - C soared to 64% - making GSHS the second most improved school in the country - partly because of imaginative use of the curriculum but also because we were tapping our greatest resource, the students' own creativity.
Over the last 12 months we have taken the giant leap to embed creative teaching and learning in curriculum areas across the school - upskilling teaching and creating a buzz amongst students that would enhance their motivation and ambition. The plan was to make six blockbuster movies based on the curriculum and the Every Child Matters Agenda across six different departments within the school (a enclosed DVD). The project was a massive success and the QCA is now using the DVD as exemplar material in its Key Stage 3 review. This coincided with a rise in results to an estimated 75-80% 5A*- C for 2006/7. It also coincided with both English and Maths department results storming forward to a predicted percentage in the high 30s.
Next year we plan to embed our use of digital media still further across the school by involving every department in at least one digital media project. We will also begin to formalise our creative links with partner Junior Schools.
An introduction to W Elgar, submitter.
I am acting Deputy Head at George Salter School having been seconded here from Shireland Language College 12 months ago. The two schools are to become a collegiate academy in September. George Salter was already heavily involved in Creative Partnerships when I arrived and I inherited its innovation status as part of my brief. The film "Home" had just been shown for the first time and the reaction around school was amazing as was the anticipation for the next project which would involve the making of six blockbuster style movies in departments across the school.
I thought there might be issues with selling a vague idea like this to staff but immediately found them extremely receptive, a legacy of the can-do attitude that Creative Partnerships develops. There was a general nervousness amongst staff which was quickly dispelled when they met the film makers and in particular our Creative Partner - Rebecca Hardy. What followed was quite simply the most transformational learning experience I have ever seen. Disaffected students started to attend school and show motivation, shy students started to take the lead in projects, students who found literacy difficult kept diaries and took lead roles in writing scripts, and students discovered talents they didn't know they had in the full range of film-making roles. I am now leaving George Salter but know the impact of creative education will continue to grow as its work is so deeply embedded within the school.
1.1 The context
Unemployment in the area is high - only 47% of adults aged 16-74 are employed in the Greets Green area. The heavy industrial employment history of many families means that key skills such as literacy do not have a high profile in many homes - indeed, many students arrive with poor literacy skills.
Up to 35% of our students speak English as a second language and mobility is high - by the time students complete key stage four, there will have been a one third turnover. Nearly 90 per cent of our children come from families classed as 'hard-pressed' or of 'moderate means' in the 2005 Acorn report. In terms of their quality of living, residents are 11th from the bottom nationally.
School profile:
Total number of learners 916 Age range 11-18 Level 5 and above in key stage 3 tests 44 per cent English 48 per cent maths 42 per cent Science Special Educational Needs and EAL 50 per cent GCSE results five A* to C 64 per cent
1.2 The key questions we address through creative learning. How do we embed the personalization of learning, through the use of digital media, to enable our students to become more confident in a range of communication skills?
How can we support all our teaching staff to enable our students to aim higher and see further?
1.3 The digital media project as reported in the press:
Salters Night at the Movies
Students and staff from a West Bromwich school will take over a Wolverhampton cinema for the premiere of six professionally made blockbuster movies on Thursday May 17.
George Salter High School students, who have worked with professional film-makers to create films linked to subject areas but based on a blockbuster theme, will walk the red carpet to the Lighthouse Cinema before the awards ceremony.
The films, which are based on the curriculum, all have blockbuster themes. For instance the Science film is based on Inner Space, the Maths film is in the genre of Mission Impossible and the Geography film is a disaster movie featuring a tornado hitting the school in the style of Twister.
Students made the films as part of their learning so the Maths film for instance featured the teaching of simultaneous equations which were needed to prevent a huge crime.
The evening, which will last from 6-9pm, is a showcase for the films and opportunity for students to dress up to celebrate their success through a West End style premiere.
The film-makers worked with the students on scripting before taking over the school during the Spring term to film in various locations.
Headteacher Mick Green said: "The films really show the creativity of all involved. The students took on a huge role from scripting through acting and filming to editing. I have seen excerpts from the films and they look stunning.
"We want to use the evening at the Lighthouse to celebrate the success of all those involved as well as to pick the winners. The important thing to remember as well is that students were actually improving their learning in the seven subject areas involved while making the films.
"The buzz around the school while the films were being made was incredible and we firmly believe that is through tapping students' creativity and ability to innovate that we will get the best out of them."
The completed films, which last up to ten minutes each, will be shown in competition during the evening and awards will be given for Best Film, Film which deals most effectively with the Every Child Matters Agenda and Film which lends itself the best to the curriculum.
The films were made through Creative Partnerships as part of George Salter's innovation status which reflects the expertise within the school in digital media. I books, pod casting and other software are regularly used in lessons.
1.4 Evidence of the impact of Creative education:
George Salter was praised in its Ofsted report of 2005 for being a school "where every child really does matter." We have found the blockbuster project has helped raise motivation and aspiration this year even more than we expected. This is best shown through two short examples. A year 8 student who moved down from Yorkshire because of changed home circumstances found his early experiences of George Salter unbearable. He was a very unhappy child. As a result of his work on the Mathematics film he is a motivated boy exuding a confidence that comes with increased self esteem.
1.5 Evidence from Year 9 student Parhana Siddiqha: "During the project I helped make several important decisions like what we would include in the script and which locations we would use. My confidence definitely increased because I had to talk in front of the camera and my classmates and then the film was shown to hundreds of people. I would say it has affected my work across the school."
1.6 Secondly a student in Year 10 who was managed move from another Sandwell school because of dreadful behavioural issues and appalling attendance. For the three months he was involved in the film his behavioural issues vanished and his attendance improved dramatically.
1.7 Evidence from experts who have seen the films featured in the Take 6 Film Festival:
Congratulations on the high standard of the entries, some imaginative editing, an impressive range of televisual and filmic conventions, clever techniques and energetic scripts.
The Disaster Diaries moved at a cracking pace, reproducing popular documentary conventions. It slipped effortlessly between interviews, technical images, borrowed footage and dramatic reconstruction. A really professional production. The local storm was cleverly constructed. This entry also had a strong theme: that real toughness is less about being hard and more about being caring.
Please pass my congratulations to the teams.
Sue Hackman Chief Adviser on School Standards Department for Education and Skills
BBC Birmingham: "This is a great collection of films including one of the best films I have ever seen produced by young people!"
Screen West Midlands: "The Geography film 'Disaster Diaries' was exceptional ... I would recommend this film to go into children's film festivals."
1.8 Our evaluation: Through our creativity agenda we saw: Staff using digital technology as part of their lessons, not just in the arts subjects. The confidence and creativity for teachers to deliver complex content in innovative ways that capture the imagination of the students. Staff re-invigorated and enjoying the act of teaching students to the full. An increased confident in the use of the new technologies. Students looking forward to lessons. Attendance and punctuality to rising. Students participating in lessons in ways they never have before ie the child who struggles to read delivering a pitch, the student who struggles with writing, preparing a script. An increased confidence in the use of the new technologies. The community are more aware of the buzz in the school.
1.9 The future: We want more of this and believe by spreading the use of digital media across more subjects and giving teachers and students more autonomy we can make an even bigger difference and further personalize the learning of our students. We will raise their aspirations, increase their involvement in an control over their learning, and boost literacy skills through this project. We will also start to spread the work through other West Bromwich schools.
We also believe the project will help give our students an extra literacy boost they badly need given the fact we have representatives from 35 nations with fewer than 50% achieving level 4 in English on arrival.
What additional dimensions do you wish to explore in 2007-8?
This is the second year of a three year process. In the first year we aimed to have whole school buy in to the use of digital media as a learning tool through a clearly defined programme leading to a spectacular final event. This year we will embed the use of digital media across the school by developing the capacity of young people to become leaders in the process of film-making. Students will also be given the opportunity to explore the curriculum across all subjects through use of the digital media. We will also work closely with at least two primary school with a view to developing an innovation network in the third year of this process. Several primary schools have expressed an interest already in working with us.
July 2007
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