The school began their final year with Creative Partnerships looking to consolidate all the different aspects that the programme had touched upon, and to build on and develop a whole school approach to Creativity to enhance teaching and learning.
They wanted to continue to explore how to make creativity sustainable and embed it into daily practice at Cardinal Wiseman School. They sought to develop and enhance teacher confidence and expertise to ensure creativity was at the heart of their curriculum, putting systems in place to support this. The plan this final year was to shift the emphasis of the curriculum to create opportunities for creativity. They wanted to embed good practice and recognise where the gaps were in terms of developing a more creative culture in school.
A key issue in the school was the need to improve the quality of teaching and learning by addressing individual learning needs and accelerating pupil progress so that all pupils fulfil their potential. The school considered the improvement in teaching and learning to be inseparable from improving pupil engagement, which likewise is interlinked with a more creative curriculum.
“students are having far greater input into their lessons and their learning. I think that’s made a difference within my own classes. They want to do more and get more involved” Teacher
“there has been an increased confidence in the department to try different things. We obviously had a number of meetings in the beginning to address the ‘fear factor’! I think getting to know and trust the creative practitioners supported staff to take those risks.” “I came in as a pregnant cottage maiden in my class, and Sarah (another teacher) came in as Miss Haversham in hers. It really engaged the students for us to be in the hot seat. I think there is a lot of mileage in it. It has sparked something…” Department Head
“the biggest impact this year in English has been in the learning environment. It has made me more aware of the spaces we have, its got me thinking about furniture. Using all the space in different ways. Like the ideas net I put on the ceiling in my classroom.! Teacher
“Having a set program of CPD sessions has supported the program. It has allowed more staff to be directly involved.” Deputy Head
The enquiry question at the heart of the programme was "How do we develop teacher confidence and understanding in delivering a creative curriculum?" This was the same as the previous year’s change school programme and while they felt they had made a good start they knew there was further work to be done to embed. The school wanted this year to move towards more pupil input into the writing of schemes of work (SOW).
Work took place in a range of areas:
Display:
Year 7 worked with their tutors on a piece of work titled ‘First impressions’. A blue chair arrived in every class, and students and their parents were encouraged to reflect upon their first few weeks at CW on luggage labels which were tied to the chairs. Students were also given cameras to explore the school and document their environment, and Barbara Jones (creative practitioner) documented pupils in lessons. The work culminated in an exhibition of the chairs and photos displayed in the school for a month, which coincided with Year 7 Mass so parents could also visit the exhibition. The display has then been taken on tour to CW feeder schools providing an excellent transitional tool. It will also be used by tutors to reflect back with students at the end of their school year.
Barbara has also worked within English, Maths and PE to develop the learning environments and look to how they might continue to develop. Throughout the school there has been a focus on developing display to reflect process and involve students, and this forming part of SOW.
Resource area:
Cardinal Wiseman are committed to embedding their adopted principles of recycling and re-using resources as per their school sustainability plan. Through the year they developed plans for a resource area in school, inspired by Weave (an educational recycling facility) but fitting their own needs and vision. A space was identified and transformed, incorporating collected resources, which will be managed in partnership with staff and students.
Schemes of Work:
The year began with a CPD session exploring co-planning between staff and students, which raised interest in the wider school community and resulted in this becoming a focus of the annual Student conference (co-planned with students, staff and the Creative Agent). The day involved 2 groups of 15 students from each year group working with a member of staff to co-plan a SoW, supported by a team of creative practitioners, who supported the planning. The day was facilitated by the CA. Through the work done in school to date and staff and students eager to continue to co-plan the school has worked with the CA to design some Facilitator training to ‘train the ‘trainer’ and therefore further develop staff skills and confidence to work in this way.
Work with English and Maths:
After initial consultations with staff, it was decided to use Creative Practitioner’s in English and Maths to support the departments in raising attainment and engagement. In English this was looking at what makes effective group work, and also exploring Drama techniques to support Teaching & Learning. Maths sought someone who would inspire and raise the ‘coolness’ of Maths. They worked with Jay (a film maker and Musician, with a background and interest of A-level maths) who worked within the department to explore the creative use of ICT to inspire and support maths lessons, to support staff in looking at their learning environment, and to work with students to produce inspirational learning tools using ICT.
CPD and whole school INSETs:
The school ran 8 sessions throughout the year with each session offering 6 different focuses per day, attended by at least one member of every faculty. This program has enhanced the understanding of the creative process and developed skills which supported the rest of the work done in school. Additionally Teacher Portfolios continued to serve as evidence of creative work and document good practice, and learning trio’s supported and encouraged staff to take risks and share skills and ideas across faculties.
Residential Creativity Conference:
For the third year running the school ran a residential conference for staff, this year with the theme of Creativity, planned by staff in collaboration with the Creative Agent, and attended by 32 teaching staff. The guest speaker was Matthew Milburn, a head from Kingstone SoC in Barnsley, and the conference explored creativity, skills development and how as a school they might develop these. Parent engagement has been chosen as the theme for the next conference, as this is still an area the school is keen to develop.
Arts Award:
The school has taken on the Arts Award programme, beginning in the Art department, which additionally supported them on developing display and reflection
Graffiti:
Following conversations with the PE department regarding engagement, cross curricular approaches and environments, a graffiti artist was employed to work with a number of students to explore the Wiseman Values, and together they produced as a series of Graffiti boards to display within the gym. The aim of this was to bring about a more stimulating environment while also exploring a key focus in school and seeking to raise engagement of pupils within the department.
An ongoing thread of support has been the work of the CA who was given carte blanche to consult and work with the whole school. She attended faculty meetings, to update, consult and to provide training and development where needed. All staff were actively encouraged to openly communicate about how they might benefit from support and advice. This approach allowed for greater flexibility and responsiveness to diagnosing and assessing need and providing the relevant support. It also raised the profile of the work within the school, and kept the project’s momentum going.
Students are now taking a more active role in their learning, and the momentum is growing to allow student led learning, leading into co-planning schemes of work, and this is now becoming part of school routine. The Student council requested this co-planning as a focus for the Student Voice conference. Students display an increased ability to reflect on their learning, due to greater support and strategies from staff and staff have noticed a subsequent increase in enjoyment and motivation.
For staff themselves there has been a shift in attitude to increased risk taking in teaching, with an acknowledgement that this in seen now by more staff trying new things, actively supported and encouraged by the senior leadership team, for example the co-planning with students. As a result some staff have now collaboratively re-written complete schemes of work. For a number of staff the key impact has been the opportunity to hear other staff talking about what they have been doing and their successes and failures which has encouraged them to take part and experiment themselves. This has also resulted in the activities and ‘risk taking’ in the school being wider than just for targeted teachers and subjects. It has developed confidence because teachers have been able to try and take part when they have been ready, keen, and able to choose from a number of ways to develop creativity within their teaching and learning. This approach has also sparked conversation and debate which has also contributed to raising awareness of the work, and intrigue to try it themselves.
Overall the school says there is now a ‘buzz’ around school and enjoyment and motivation is evident in the conversations about teaching and learning happening in the staff room and corridors. Staff are regularly taking ideas from the CPD sessions and applying them to their own practise. Displays change on a regular basis. They no longer just contain finished work, but show process and are used to support learning. Students are also involved in designing and putting up displays. There has been an increased use of technology to creatively support teaching and learning with departments’ blogging to increase awareness and to continue the creative momentum.
Cardinal Wiseman are continuing to build on and develop a whole school approach to Creativity to enhance teaching and learning. A key benefit of the programme which the schools seeks to sustain is that of continuous evaluation, leading into plans for next steps, considering the longer impacts of the actions, both across the whole school and for individual teachers. There has been strong support from SLT and the CP coordinator, and systems are in place within the school to enable time for CPD and Faculty development.
Good relationships with the Creative agent and partners were crucial to the success of the work, and they became part of the school team. This has ensured a collaborative approach to the work, responsive to the needs of staff and students. Accordingly the school understands and values how all external partners have provided an essential outside eye which has challenged their thinking, and continued to move them forward asking questions about what they do, how they do it and why. This is an input the school is committed to finding resources to support.
The resource centre will provide constant inspiration and access to resources and ideas, acting as a centralised hub for staff to collect items and share their practise. There are now a number of staff who go about things in a different way, who will continue to challenge themselves and inspire others. There is a raised awareness of good practise within school and the work being done around creativity, but it has been developed this year so there is a culture of not knowing where CP starts or ends, but is there as support. The school does realise however that much of the success has been about consistency, someone who drives the program and the opportunity for outside partners to support, and moving forward they are looking at how this aspect might continue.
The school is currently finalising a 3 year plan to ensure it can build on the outcomes and learning from this program. This plan is a performance management target for the school’s coordinator, indicating the seriousness with which it is pursued. There is a feeling among staff that they mustn’t ‘let things go’, and everyone needs to continue the culture of staff sharing and reflection that has been developed. The school has undertaken to lead a cluster network with it’s feeder primary schools, with the ongoing development of its Creative approach as the central plank for discussion and sharing.
Project Title: Creative Confidence 2010-2011
School: Cardinal Wiseman School, Coventry
Creative Agent: Nicola Richardson