Creative Curriculum / Learning
We have a commitment to the creative agenda and putting children at the centre of the learning, to work collaboratively and encompass the ethos of creative partnerships to enable maximum gain for all the projects we are involved in.
We have been very lucky over the years to work with schools on Creative Partnerships projects. This is a little bit of what we got up to with some of the schools......
Greenside Primary School
Working with Year 3 & 4 pupils to improve calculation using the visual arts as inspiration. An outdoor Maths project with the enquiry concentrating on improving learning and applying calculation in real situations. The school wanted to move away from its narrow focus upon learning times tables in the classroom and use the numerical potentials of the park and its facilities to provide ‘real life’ maths exercises. Pupils had their Maths lessons outdoors which gave them the opportunity to work in a range of areas including shape, measurement, scale, estimating, area, perimeter, tessellation, direction and cost/money.
Copthorne Primary
The ‘Vintage Victorians versus Romantic Romans’ project explored how we could develop increased creativity whilst still delivering relevant skills in visual art. The aim was to develop specific skills in the creative art world, whilst delivering the school curriculum. Working with Year 3 and 5 pupils we developed skills in sculpture and collage and linked this to topic work the pupils were doing.
Tranmere Primary School
Developing enterprise initiatives with 44 Year 5 pupils. Exploring how we can learn and apply calculation through the creative world of business and enterprise. The project was focussed around the school developing their approach to calculation, collaboration and to create independent pupils. The enterprise was based around creating bags for sale for the Summer Fair. Pupils decided on shapes, created designs, constructed the products, developed a company name and logo, costed and sold the finished bags. All work focused on using mathematical skills and apply these within a real life situation.
St Theresa's Catholic Primary School
St Theresa's is a change school and their focus is developing the math’s curriculum to engage staff, create excitement that inspires pupils and parents. The project involved CPD, whole school planning, collaborative projects and working towards changing the culture of how subjects are taught across the whole school. One phase of work involved pupils using creative skills to create a rain forest wall requiring the extensive use of scaling and measurements. Another project challenged the pupils to make Victorian toys in an enterprise setting managing the costs and using maths throughout.
Appleton Academy
Working with the Head of Art to re-engage students who are disengaged in Art, creating an Arts identity for the academy. This involved an investigation into the range of teaching strategies used to engage students in the secondary sector of the academy. Understanding how the teaching methods in the secondary sector differ from the primary sector and how these changes have an effect on students learning, participation and enthusiasm in lessons.
Castle Grove Infant School and Sandal Endowed Junior School
The two schools federated in 2009 and they were keen to extend an ethos of active, independent learning into KS2 and develop the already successful practice within KS1. It was also important to strengthen relationships between the staff in the 2 schools in preparation for a time when the 2 schools amalgamate on one site. Working with all the pupils and staff in the two schools we developed a mosaic stepping stone project to develop the outdoor learning spaces within the creative curriculum. The project looked at developing thinking skills and provided opportunities for pupils to make decisions about their learning and the curriculum.
Princeville Primary
The school wanted to explore how they could “Develop and support staff to deliver the curriculum in creative ways”. This was achieved by creating and delivering a focused creative learning / arts week. A Creative self assessment was done at the school and this identified a number of specialized art forms where they needed support from both a skill basis and how it can be used in the curriculum. The work involved working across all the different primary aged classes and sharing skills with teachers and other staff.
Gooseacre Primary
Working with Key Stage 1 staff and pupils to develop a creative approach to teaching Maths. The school wanted pupils to see maths as an engaging, useful, and exciting subject from an early age. Achievement in maths is a key priority for the school improvement plan. We use the outside environment and Design & Technology making to impact on pupils’ engagement and enjoyment in mathematics. One phrase of the work was with parents, examining how the interaction of a parent can have a fundamentally important role on the development of a child’s learning and confidence in the subject matter. The project then extended the creative maths work across all school years.