Memorandum submitted by Richard O'Sullivan, Bradley Primary School, Nelson

 

 

1. Bradley Primary School serves a community experiencing high levels of deprivation and poverty.(Major economic indices.) The majority of children are British Asians of Pakistani Heritage. The majority of children speak English as an additional language.

2. Educational outcomes at Bradley have been consistently poor and this area is consequently a priority for improvement. As part of our process of school improvement our curriculum has been revised in keeping with the Excellence and Enjoyment Agenda. We have also been seeking ways to raise standards of Basic Skills in order to enable significant lasting change to take place.

3. Creative Partnerships has provided us with an opportunity to develop standards of basic skills in school whilst upgrading the quality of our curriculum.

4. Artists from a wide range of Creative backgrounds have worked alongside Teachers to develop creative ways to promote Basic skills in particular basic skills in English. Our children have benefited from an increased exposure to the arts and have been motivated by the revised creative curriculum.

5. Standards of attainment at KS2 in English for 2006/7 have shown a significant improvement on 2005/6.The % of children achieving L4 has increased from 56.6 to 72.9. The % of children achieving L5 has increased from 0 to 29.7.

6. Creative Partnerships have contributed to this improvement through their support in revising our curriculum and through providing artists to motivate and enthuse the children whilst developing their basic skills.

 

7. There have been several projects at Bradley that have been organised and funded through the Creative Partnerships programme. The latest project was a book making project involving our Y3 children. The children worked with an author who developed and encouraged imaginative ideas and vocabulary. The children then worked with an illustrator who worked on the skills of observation and figure drawing. The children then wrote and illustrated their own stories. A bookmaker was employed to demonstrate book making techniques. The finished stories are being made into books and will be available in school for parents and children.

 

8. The response of the children has been enthusiastic. They have enjoyed the project and are showing considerable pride in their achievements. All Staff also benefited from two staff meetings led by the artists.

 

 

 

July 2007