Memorandum submitted by Eastfield Nursery School and Children's Centre, Wolverhampton

 

1. SUMMARY

 

Eastfield is situated in an area of multiple deprivation in the second most deprived ward within the city and ranks among the top 5% of deprived wards within the country. Approximately 51% of our children are from lone parent families and there are a high proportion of teenage pregnancies, exceeding national averages. Many parents have negative memories of school, experiencing low self esteem and expectation, compounded by the reflection of school league tables on academic success. We aim to support parent's engagement with their children's learning nurturing confidence and building self esteem and expectation.

 

The educational profile of the East Park LANA is influenced to a significant degree by the socio-enomic factors affecting the area. Indicators such as entitlement to free school meals (27.8% compared to the City average of 20%) and the percentage of pupils with special educational needs (22.7% compared to the City average of 17.6%) clearly demonstrates this link.

 

The Creative Partnership programme has provided unique opportunities & enriching experiences which have created benchmarks for achievement other than language, maths & science!

 

Parents have been actively engaged in a variety of projects enabling them to more able support their child's learning.

 

1.1 Our principle aim is the provision of opportunities for children to respond and to undertake creative activities across all areas of learning providing -

· Opportunities which stimulate imagination and fantasy and reflect cultural diversity

· Opportunities for children to experience the work of local and professional artists

· Children with first-hand experiences whenever possible

 

Children's creativity, senses, intelligence and empathy are channelled and developed in a focused and meaningful way through the areas of Art & Craft/Music/Dance/Drama & Imaginative play. Creative development complements all other curriculum activities enabling children to represent ideas, feeling and perceptions of their world in a non-verbal way.

 

The role of artist as integral member of staff has been central to development and has impacted on the environment, relationships of all partners (children/staff/parent/carers), resources, planning, documentation, delivery etc

 

1.2 Training undertaken has made us more aware of different learning styles, and this is reflected in our environment and implicit in our practice.

 

Because of developments on our site the Nursery and its staff is seen by the LA Inspectorate as a centre for creativity and dissemination of good practice.

 

Staff follow children's interests using ICT to document their learning journeys. Through CP staff have embarked on their own learning journey using ICT to capture sound, still and digital movie images of children's learning which is burned to CD and available for each child & family as they leave Nursery. This is a powerful tool to share with child/parents and other professionals. We received an Outstanding overall grade from the HMI who conducted our Feb 07 Ofsted

 

"The outstanding work with the artist-in-residence, including showcase events, supports the school's philosophy of developing competent children who are active learners and who take ownership of their learning".

"The school's self evaluation is accurate and honest.....there is both the desire and outstanding capacity to improve further." "The school's partnership with parents is excellent"

 

Our Learning Journey CDs (a product of CP involvement) "provide an innovative record of each child's progress".

 

These Learning Journey CDs have been selected by QCA for publication as one of their 'Innovation stories'

 

Creativity is a fundamental human instinct - it enhances our lives and supports lifelong learning. Only by accessing our creativity are we able to realise our full potential. It is a life enhancing process and fundamental to achievement

 

2. BACKGROUND

 

Eastfield Nursery School has evolved over the past 8 years from a traditional nursery school into a Neighbourhood Nursery (catering for children from birth to eight) into its recent designation (April 2006) as Eastfield Children's Centre with a Super Output Area covering most of the East Park Ward. This evolution is the result of VISION and a PROACTIVE staff willing to embrace the challenges of change. Its history and commitment can be tracked back through the archives of School Development/ Improvement Plans and is implicit in our SEF. At its heart can be found, again and again "promoting social inclusion by providing a range of life long learning/health-related/training/employment opportunities for parents, adults & other community members".

 

It is something we are passionate about.

 

2.1 Likewise Priority 3 in our current SIP is related entirely to the development of Creativity and can be tracked back over several years as a constant strand of our development demonstrating our ongoing commitment to the arts as an integral spoke within the learning wheel of the Centre. The majority of staff within the nursery school has undertaken a study tour to Reggio Emilia, Italy where central importance is given to the expressive arts as a vehicle for learning. We believe that a rich curriculum providing multi-sensory, hands on experiences embodies the heart of a learning community and is equally applicable to both androgogical and pedagogical learning.

 

3. PROJECTS

 

Through Black Country Creative Partnership we have benefited from the following residencies and projects:

· a textile artist - 3 months

· a year's residency with a visual artist from an architectural background and a similar residency with a musician.

· a 10 week dance residency participating in a Black Country Dance Festival

· 2 year residency with multi-media artist

· 1 year residency musician

· a long term ICT project with enormous resource and training implications for staff, which will ensure collaboration with other artists in this field

· high profile showcases held in civic building; main shopping mall, media centre, education centres etc

· Creativity is inclusive and broadens the level of participation. During a Carribbean evening our CP artist piloted a community audit using creativity as the medium of enquiry. The audit attracted attention, invited involvement and became as much a feature of the evening as the steel band!

· Involving parents in workshops which enable them to follow their child's learning, appreciate the significance of the arts as a means of self expression and develop their own skills

· Artist-facilitator organises/promotes termly creative challenges for parent/carer to engage in with their child utilsing resources from the Art Resource base on site.Half termly challenges involving parent

· Current project "Story in the Park" involves small group of parents working collaboratively with artist creating narrative for children to encounter on a planned visit to local park

 

3.1 Creativity has no right or wrong. When children's work is valued, recognised and praise given self esteem is raised. Our "Caribbean Dance" celebrating Black History month was based on the natural dance movements suggested by a particular group of Afro-Caribbean boys and performed to a steel band as part of a civic celebration. Not only were the children rewarded with the applause they received but more importantly parents who had accompanied us were basking in the reflected recognition their children had received. At a time when great emphasis is given to measurable results of Maths, English, Science our parents benefited from the benchmark provided by the reception given to their children.

We use "provocations" as a stimulus for child-initiated activities e.g. visits/visitors/materials/objects/music etc. In our "Locked in Light" project a battered old chest filled with objects relating to light & reflection was hidden in the garden at the end of a glitter trail. Objects within the chest had been provided by all staff - clerk & cleaners etc and included fabrics, fairy wings, torch, candles, a music CD, keys, glitter ball etc. Some provocations result in long term projects, others are of that moment.

4. RECOMMENDATIONS

In areas like ours where changing people's perspectives, self-esteem and expectations, in fact their very social culture, a long term strategy is required not isolated pockets of funding. As a Children's Centre we have the capacity to reach out but it is how we reach out that will make the difference. Sustained funding would enable us to:

 

· Raise the profile of creative arts within our community and the profile of children's creativity within the city.

· Provide a vehicle for "thinking outside the box" using creativity as a mechanism for audit - identifying how we as a Children's Centre are perceived by children, parents and carers in order to reach our "Reach Area" and beyond.

· Provide opportunities for us to engage with creativity across the multi-disciplinary teams and agencies working in partnership within our Centre as well as the traditional educators and childcare teams.

· It will connect the previously unconnected.

· Provide a vehicle for learning across all areas of learning & development through the medium of Creative Arts

 

 

July 2007