Newsletter Brighton & Hove High School GDSt
Issue 28 May 2015
Dear Parents and Girls,
Creativity has been seen in the past as some mysterious, intense process - the domain of geniuses or eccentrics. Nowadays we are much more at ease with the notion of creativity. We recognise it as a practical skill, one which can be taught and which everyone can achieve. It is a way of thinking where familiar things are approached with a fresh eye, where we look at problems with an open mind and use our imagination rather than our knowledge to explore new possibilities rather than traditional approaches. I have written before about the importance of creativity for national and global economic growth and development. But there is an increasing recognition that it is also essential for the growth of individuals. Research suggests that creativity improves the self-esteem, motivation and achievement of learners. Students who are encouraged to think creatively become more interested in discovering things for themselves, are more open to new ideas and challenges and more able to solve problems; they can work well with others and have greater ownership over their learning. We know that younger children are inherently creative. However, around the ages of 8-10, the opinions of others become more important, the fear of failure emerges and they lose their willingness to try new things - they want to know ‘the right answer’. The challenge for us, then, is how to nourish and develop our girls’ natural creativity. We take lots of different approaches to promote creativity throughout the school. We try to provide regular opportunities for hands-on experimentation, problem solving, discussion and collaborative work; we encourage our girls to question, make connections, envisage what might be possible and explore ideas; we teach girls to use failure or setbacks as opportunities to learn (Grit Week was a good example of this!); in our classrooms we ask open-ended questions such as ‘What if…?’ and ‘How might you…?’ and we try to ensure that we reward creativity, enterprise and innovation at every opportunity. We have an exciting new project running next week that will involve all our Year 5 and Year 7 girls. A company called WriteInspired will be working over three days at the junior school on creative writing. Passion, authenticity and intuition are at the heart of this company’s approach. We hope that this short course will help to develop the girls’ individual strengths and encourage an element of risk-taking in learning - pushing through perceived barriers and embracing self-discovery. I’m grateful to Miss Dev, Miss Bournon, Mrs Donley and Miss Bazley for their work in setting up this project and look forward to reading some of the girls’ writing. Have a good weekend. Jennifer Smith 2014-15 Issue 28: 1
dates
Sat 16th Y11 English revision (10am3pm); Mon 18th External exams continue (end 19th June); 8S Guild week; 7Z to JS (p1); Y13 Flexi leave starts; Y11 and Y12 on study leave; Hullabaloo Community Choir 6:309:45pm; Tues 19th 7P to JS (p1); Y10 Parents’ Eve, 4:30pm; Weds 20th 7M to JS (p1); House Bake Off (p4-5 ); Youth Dance Platform performance at Brighton Spiegeltent, 7:15pm; Thurs 21st GCSE Art & DT Exhibition, 5:30pm; Fri 22nd Community Day (Off timetable); Dance & Music evening, 7pm; Sat 23rd BHHS sponsoring the Spring Festival at St Ann’s Well Gardens, Hove from 11am; Mon 25th-Fri 29th Half term Upcoming events... Mon 1st June Y8 exams start (continue all week); Y10 Careers Interviews start; Wed 3rd Y10 Geography Field trip; Thurs 4th German Exchange Info evening for parents (604), 6pm
Thursday 21st May GCSE Art & DT exhibition, 5:30-7:30pm in the Art Block