the war cabinet

work produced by year 4 children from bowling park primary in bradford

to be exhibited at exciting new bradford venue, culture fusion

batbadgers and hedgefoxes

ideas books in use with year 1 children in spring grove primary huddersfield

planning designing creating the ideal nocturnal animals

bat badgers

hedge fox

thematic approaches to learning links

what is creativity? a teachers perspective

pgce sessions

Forest Schools Articles

Forest Schools Articles

conversations with teachers

The use of sketchbooks as a means of exploring personal identity, a journey a response to and through a visual world during teenage years is vital to an individuals sense of being on this planet and its social order. 
Their reaction to peer pressure levels, and their engagement or lack of engagement via personal choice and selection is all part and parcel of this fantastic visual tool. It should look like a treasure trove of a mystical land the outpourings of each individual mind, with glued and torn and tattered edges remnants of meals and experiences littering its personal pages.

Journeys taken meeting the end of the road until a new bypass in understanding is found and the journey can continue once more. Where sketchbooks are these rich tapestries of personal expression they serve an arts purpose. 
In secondary education often another purpose is served that of documenting the journey to a final examination peice like a well laid out spoon-fed logical essay, pride is taken in getting this pristine book correct to tick all the examination assessment objective requirements, it serves an artistic purpose.
 Where the sketchbook is purely a once a week homework book set by the teacher marked with a quick comment it becomes a book with pages torn out where mistakes are made,or grades are poor, it is book that is the cause of detention for not being handed in on time and is frequently lost and replaced by the teacher. It is shoved in the bottom of a bag or in a locker down the corridor never to be seen again, what artistic purpose does this serve?

“I am aware that children are being more and more manipulated by the media, which is driven by pop culture and consumerism. I am more interested in children learning to be thinkers, makers, carers and doers'


eileen adams (the big draw)

http://www.teachers.tv/videos/mick-waters-drops-in-bowling-park-primary-school-bradford

recognising creativity a staff audit

We can be creative when we

• are open minded
• explore
• play
• go into the unknown
• push boundaries
• reflect
• take risks
• are confident
• are enthusiastic
• are positive ‘ I can’ mentality
• are adaptable
• motivated
• free to think
• are original
• make emotional connections
• independent
• listen to others
• share ideas
• draw on personal experience
• use imagination
• observe
• feel good about our selves
• express
• use tools
• are willing to try
• are resilient
• dare
• are bold
• believe in ourselves

spring grove primary work makes the news

http://www.examiner.co.uk/education-huddersfield/schools_in_the_spotlight/2009/11/25/schools-in-the-spotlight-spring-grove-jin-school-86081-25244281/

some questions

somequestions

1

How do you make it? Is it a skeleton? What’s inside? Is it a dinosaur? What’s it called? Is it full of treasure? Can a mouse live in it? Where does it come from? Is it a feather pen? How can you wear it? Who’s in the photo? Who will know the answer? What is it? Where is it from? What is in the box? Is it a deadly crocodile? Can you open it? Is it a real bone? Is it wooden? Does it make a sound? I’ve seen it at home but forgot.

Can you wear them? Where do you get that from? Is it heavy? How old is it? Is it smelly? Why have you got it? Is that a map? Is it special? Can I look inside? How do you open it? Look at this I can hear something.

This looks nice. It is so old. It looks like a marble. It shines. How does it feel? A dragon’s skull! A question book? Were there wheels a long time ago? Where did you get these things from?

2

Did you buy it from a shop? What colour is it? Is it wood or soft? What shape is it? Is it an animal?

3

What is it about? Have you been there? Did you go to your grandmas? House and did she give it to you? What’s that called? How much did it cost? How do you spell Dubai? How does it work? Where did you find it? Did you put that collar on? Who made that doll? Are these people? It doesn’t make sense.

Is it a diary? Did you find it or make it? Who’s that? Who are these people? How do you close it? Is it from another country? Who are all the other people? Does it bite? How fast can you go? Are you the champion? Are you telling the truth? Is it real? Is that your family? Are they Victorian? Which way is it? A different language. How long have you had it? Why is it orange inside?

excerpt from TES 2001

Individual pupils are targeted with imaginative programmes. Jamil, eight, was disruptive and never able to settle to anything except when he was drawing or painting. Ever watchful for potential, staff concluded that he possessed exceptional visual awareness, so they created an individual programme for him that included visual challenges within the normal curriculum. In a recent dance lesson, he was asked to make a quick sketch of how pupils should be positioned in a dance they had composed. Jamil also spends a good deal of time with Dave Hulston, an artist and musician who works at Medlock two days a week as an arts development officer, advising staff, creating schemes of work and working with individual pupils.

An exhibition space has been set up in a reception area where large, powerfully expressive paintings on themes such as the "horrors of war" and "identity" - all linked to curriculum topics - are displayed. The paintings, worked on over weeks, are often linked to poetry and writing. It is here that children such as Jamil come to work with Mr Hulston, and where he gives them some freedom to take the initiative. For example, Jamil became interested in a pile of stones Mr Hulston had brought into school, and made stepping stones with them. This turned into a discussion about journeys and a painting by Jamil on life as a journey - a darkly layered self-portrait super-imposed with stones, shells and keys, and text with statements such as "I wish to fly"; "Sometimes we hurt on the outside, inside we have our happy memories".

Staff considered the key to engaging Jamil in learning was allowing him plenty of space for self-discovery and expression, working things out at a deep-seated level. An emphasis on developing children emotionally, says Mr Herrington, is central to the school's mission. Mr Hulston started working at Medlock on a voluntary basis when he lived on the local Ardwick estate and his two daughters attended the school. He was then taken on half-time as a support worker for a special needs child. When this task came to an end, he was retained to develop the visual arts. Developing a role for Mr Hulston and managing to keep him on by contracting out his services to other schools is typical of Medlock's "outside-the-box" thinking in meeting its pupils needs. Mr Hulston now works half of his week for Manchester Arts Education Festival, helping to devise programmes for 47 other schools, and creating partnerships between schools and the nearby Whitworth Gallery.