The Marches Academy Trust | Winter Newsletter 2022

Hello from our CEO

Previously thought of as something applied in visual arts and dance, it is now widely recognised that creativity belongs absolutely everywhere and is an essential skill in the world which we live in, including education and business.

Yuval Noah Harari’s bestselling Sapiens book is a brilliant account of how human imagination and creativity, such powerful and inexhaustible skills, have driven remarkable achievements throughout the history of humankind. The Oxford dictionary simply defines creativity as “the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.” We all apply creativity every day to multiple aspects of our world, constantly creating to mould and reimagine our lives.

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As a Trust we are constantly discovering new and innovative ideas, solving problems, engaging in strong decision-making and developing better learning and systems. It is clear that our family of schools play an intrinsic role in equipping all children and young people (CYP) and our staff with the knowledge, skills and understanding of how to develop, use and grow their creativity. This year I have seen wonderful instances of creativity in action. Some that spring to mind include the strong collaboration between Headteachers during our development meetings, the creation of an effective new Wave system to further secure inclusive learning and observing high quality teaching in the classroom that truly sparks imagination in the minds of CYP. Also listening to Shared Services staff sharing ideas and coming up with various eco initiatives during their time together such as thermal zoning and a community café so no food goes to waste.

Creativity is absolutely key to a sustainable future: our planet, our schools and the long-term vision for the Trust depend on it to survive. Our communities, both local and global, face unprecedented challenges and need us to continue opening our minds with creativity that empowers us to focus on innovative solutions. Our Trust is passionate about encouraging creativity and I am confident that by working together we will continue to promote and embed a strong creative culture that enables us to explore challenges, solve problems and keep growing in resilience becoming increasingly more agile in responding to uncertainty

I wish you all a restful Christmas and look forward to an exciting 2023 in our schools.

Sarah Finch, CEO

A message from our Chair of Trustees

Learning For Life is one of the core principles of our Trust.

We strongly believe that education should provide young people with the skills they will need to thrive in the wider world, and creativity is arguably the most important skill of all.

It is easy to think too narrowly about creativity, focusing only on those artistic and practical activities which involve making things, and putting a greater value on those that seem new or unique As a result, it is too easy to think that creativity is something that people either can or can't do, rather than as a skill that can be developed.

The reality is that creativity is needed every day to make the most of the opportunities that life presents, and to overcome the challenges thrown at us. Our ability to solve problems is what makes human beings so amazingly versatile, and it lies partly in knowing how to apply the skills we have learned, but also in having the confidence to think and act for ourselves, and the persistence to keep going until successful All of these are abilities which can be nurtured and developed in school.

It is critical that we not only equip our young learners with the tools and knowledge that they need but help them to develop their self-belief and resilience when it comes to problem-solving. The journey towards independence is about discovering and learning to trust in our own creativity.

Alex Fry, Member and Chair of the Board of Trustees

Our Vision

Achievement through Caring

We celebrate difference in each school, with a curriculum model that is unique to their school context. Our schools support, collaborate, and challenge each other in healthy peer reviews, linking our schools together across the Trust.

We are currently working together to co-construct an education model that builds on our experience as a Multi Academy Trust enabling changes for the better across our schools.

Our Values

Across our family of schools, we pride ourselves on delivering high-quality education and superb pastoral care whilst inspiring our children and young people to achieve their potential and be happy.

Excellence

We think our children and young people deserve a superb education. Everything we do is designed to deliver that and we encourage them to strive for excellence too.

Integrity

Being truthful, honest and sincere is really important to us. We like to think of it as doing the right thing even when noone is watching!

Understanding how other people feel is an important part of growing up. We encourage our children and young people to treat others as they would like to be treated.

Empathy Creativity

We want our children and young people to be able to express themselves, whether it’s through art, music, debating, drama or whatever else makes them feel happy and fulfilled.

Equality

Whether you are a student, parent or member of staff, we work hard to make sure everyone is treated fairly and equally.

Newsletter Focus: Creativity in Action

A focus on Creativity

We asked members of the Marches Academy Trust Executive Team what our Trust value of creativity means to them and how it adds value to their role.

Cavelle Priestley-Bird

Executive Director of People and Development

Creativity for me involves transforming ideas and making connections between my varied areas of work; consulting staff and combining creative ideas drives the work that I do. Developing creative talent in the Trust through our Professional Learning opportunities and the Talent Pathway is inherent to my role. When ideas such as our various Change Agents in the Trust become a working strategy, that then has impact on school performance, it has to be the most satisfying part of my job. In setting up new initiatives being creative means I listen to others and I am prepared to change my perspective. It involves taking risks and ignoring doubt, moving from what exists and embracing the challenge of leading change whilst taking others with you.

Associate Executive Director of

Education

Creativity is active, it’s about putting imaginative thinking – insights about what you have seen not working, knowledge you have about how learning happens, information about the needs of a student, inspiration in that first 30 minutes in the morning when you get so much done - into reality and acted upon to make things happen, function and be better. It can take courage to step out of the norm of what is, it needs passion and commitment – and it feels great when we see it come to be, making a difference. Without active creativity there is no change, just ideas.

Alison Pearson

Executive Director of Education

For me, creativity is transforming your ideas, imagination, and dreams into reality. When you make connections and come up with new ideas through exploring and being curious, it develops ideas, creates imagination and divergent thinking. This is the foundation of creativity. Creativity is vitally important to human development When we engage in creating something we forget our troubles and the reward of the outcomes brings joy. This is why in my role it is always amazing to see the creative genius of children and young people. I also truly believe it is something everyone can be! Being creative is vital to my role to support schools in providing a rich and broad curriculum across all learning. We help our schools secure the understanding that creativity is in the central place of the disciplines in education, and should always be our starting point in curriculum design.

Associate Executive Director of Education

For me creativity is the lifeblood of education. It is at the heart of all innovation and positive change. It helps to develop a sense of belonging for all people as it relies on self-expression whether through the arts or through dialogue and debate. Creativity often presents another perspective which provokes thought and refection. Equipping our young people to be confident to explore ideas and solutions creatively is a gift that they can take into any workforce and a skill that is highly sought after by employers. I think creativity is wonderful for two reasons; because it grows when it is shared and it is a skill that can be learned. All of my favourite things are borne from creativity and exploration; design, art, music, dance, expressive writing. The joy for me is in working with schools and seeing how creativity can be woven into classrooms and curriculums to bring learning to life and confidence to self-expression.

Claire Turner

Carla Whelan

Spotlight on Learning

Turner, Associate Executive Director of Education

Banksy has confirmed that he is responsible for seven works of art in Kyiv, Borodyanka and other cities across Ukraine. His work is always open to personal interpretation, but strong themes of resilience, grief and trauma are evident. Regardless of our feelings about graffiti as an art form, it is clear that creativity is used here as a power for good, engendering feelings of hope in the viewer and provoking personal reflection and empathy

In our schools we know creativity is a power for good. Through the arts we encourage children and young people to develop their confidence in self-expression and personal refection and interpretation. We encourage all young people to explore the arts in a range of ways to ensure they understand the importance of creativity within cultures.

Take a look at the following pages which showcase some of the fantastic creative work produced by students from across the Marches Academy Trust this term.

Creativity has always given us a powerful means of drawing attention to and remembering war. Recently artists have responded to the Russo-Ukrainian War, including British graffiti artist, Banksy.

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Claire

Credit: Banksy

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Every member of Grange Primary School from Early Years to Year 6 has completed at least one square of this piece of community artwork. The collaborative piece depicts Pip, the school mascot who is a wise owl and inspires the children to be their best. The work is on display in the corridor at Grange Primary School and the children are very proud of the community art they created together.

Examples of creative work that has been produced across our Trust in recent weeks.

Cavelle Priestley-Bird, Executive Director of People and Development

We continue to invest in all staff with an appreciation of everyone's unique contribution to the Trust, in delivering the highest standards of education We do this through ensuring quality professional learning sessions run throughout the year for all our schools. In response to a needs analysis based on school improvement this year’s focus is on five key areas – Behaviour for Learning, Inclusive Curriculum, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (EDIB), Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) and Trauma Training.

Sessions have been made bespoke to each school context and school facilitators have been trained to deliver these. Our sessions this term have been Inclusive Curriculum, Behaviour for Learning and EDIB. The sessions have developed deeper learning and have led to school actions through engaging and creative facilitation of learning

nd staff bear testament to this and some are

Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging

Jo Phillips

The Marches School

"I loved the EDIB session one last week. I delivered it alongside our Curriculum lead – this made the most sense given the content, it also made it clear that this was not an extra thing to do, but an integral part of the ethos we want to have here at The Marches School. Staff were full of ideas about how they can make small, yet effective changes and tweaks to their curriculum to have a positive impact. We also collectively thought about the school as a whole and how we could make practical changes to our practice, and have put this into our leadership group meeting this week, so that we can start to take action. Real power at work – a delight to have such a forward-thinking body of people who reflect on where we are and will make a difference to our community."

versity, Inclusion & Belonging

worth

Sir John Talbot's School

al development sessions provided by the Trust have been well ll-tailored to Sir John Talbot's School's needs. The EDIB session in oked deep thought and allowed all staff to reflect on what inclusivity tting. All sessions have given valuable, practical time for where collaboration in subject teams has been key. Feedback from hat EDIB session one has allowed them to see their curriculum nt eyes. The buzz after the session has meant that staff were still ideas they have days after "

Behaviour for Learning

Jim Taylor

"The session was well received by staff. The focus was required at this point in time for us, especially around the assertive discipline and positive language. It tied in well also with the training we did from Paul Dix at the end of the half term. As usual these sessions were informative, polished, and well put together, they are well researched and we trust them, it makes it easy for the person facilitating to deliver."

Inclusive Curriculum

Sam Upton

Tilstock CE Primary School

"The inclusive curriculum twilight was fantastic. We covered everything from planning, barriers to learning and being reflective. When discussing the barriers, it was great to hear the different experiences others had in their classes and it was a great opportunity to discuss how we overcome these barriers as a school. The Science of learning activity was brilliant – it created an opportunity for us to really consider how we meet the needs of the children in our classroom and we were able to discuss best practice for a fully inclusive lesson. Ultimately, QFT10 was the topic of conversation and how we ensure we deliver lessons to fully support the needs of all children and young people. We ended with a self-evaluation which we were able to score ourselves how well we achieved a certain area and then followed that up with a section to consider how we might improve this score to create an even more inclusive lesson. Great delivery of the session – a good mix of theory and tasks for us to complete."

Shrewsbury Academy

Shrewsbury Academy

We recently hosted the BBC's landmark education project, BBC 100 Share your Story, part of the BBC’s centenary celebrations. A carefully selected Ambassador joined us to share their inspirational journey with our students, in a bid to inspire them through the power of storytelling.

Several of our students also made their media debut this term, when they were interviewed by Radio One Newsbeat for their programme on anti-violence. This coincided with the Manchester Anti-Violence Bee visiting site along with the Chief Inspector for Telford and West Mercia Police, Helen Kinrade.

We are pleased that live shows are making a return to school and rehearsals have been underway for this year’s performance - Aladdin Jr. Hayden Doughty in Year 7, who has landed the part of Aladdin said; “Best thing about being part of the school show is doing what I love. I've met students from different year groups who are now my friends. It's been a great experience and made me a better actor and performer. I'm excited about the show in February!”

Students have also been given lots of opportunity to delve into their creativity this term through various challenges. They were tasked to design a Christmas card, which became our official card for this year. This term also saw us hold another Art competition, with our students being asked to create an autumnal inspired window design, with the winning piece to be enlarged and recreated on the Art Block window using chalk pens.

We have a new catering provider in place at Shrewsbury Academy. With this development a chance for creativity occurred, with one of our students naming the new dining area. Congratulations to Ruby Wallis on her winning name of Academy Eats!

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Shrewsbury Academy has been a hive of creativity during the last few months:

Julie Johnson, Headteacher

A special congratulations and well done to student, Carys Binnion, who has started her fashion career with an amazing competition win in the category of ‘Best Textile Manipulation’, winning an array of art supplies at a recent Young Fashion Designers competition.

Student Spotlight

The Marches School

Our Eco Club turned ideas on how to reduce the schools carbon load into action with a twoday tree planting event. Over 210 hedgerow saplings and 420 large wild harvest saplings were donated by the Woodland Trust and planted all around the school site.

Our diversity mural, planned and painted by Key Stage 3 students is now on our walls –reminding us of some of the worlds rule breakers who brought about change.

Our rehearsals for our musical Matilda have stepped up. The cast already sound amazing –their ideas about how the performance will look as well as sound are all coming together.

Year 11 have been facing the challenge of their mock exams by putting into practice a range of techniques that work for them to learn the content they need – “revision pong” is proving to be one favourite.

“ The Marches has been creative in action all term:

Alison Pearson, Headteacher

Students are often given open ended homework tasks to see where they will take them. One Year 10 task was to present the history of the atom – which one student did on biscuits.

Our Year 12 LLS (Leadership in Sixth Form Sports) course has thrown the students into the deep end with the challenge of putting their ideas for leading after school clubs into action – the students benefiting from these have enjoyed the new ideas.

Year 7 took part in team debates with the question - should the age of criminal responsibility, currently 10 years old in the UK, be changed? Students practiced the skills of teamwork and keeping a task to time to put their ideas into creative pitches for their viewpoint

As staff, we too have seen the final stages of our building work come to life – the creative thinking about what could be possible to benefit all our students and to move this through into reality has been an exciting journey giving us new Sixth Form space, a dance studio, a fully equipped fitness studio and a reception that reflect the school we are – creative, confident and forward thinking!

Sir John Talbot's School

“ Tim Stonall, Headteacher

At Sir John Talbot's School, we are constantly seeking out new ways to innovate from both within and outside the classroom. We believe firmly in the need to keep moving forward, so that our young people have the best possible experiences and life opportunities. Here are just a couple of the fantastic experiences students have embraced in recent months:

This term students were invited by Mrs Unwin and the Deputy Mayor, to support the Whitchurch Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society (WAODS) by creating props for their production at the Civic Centre. The students involved all worked incredibly hard to produce a number of vibrant sea creatures that were showcased during an underwater scene during the fun filled family pantomime based on the classic story of Dick Whittington We were delighted with the finished creations and students should be proud of their achievements. As a school we look forward to working in collaboration with WAODS and the local community further in the New Year.

Student Spotlight

For his work experience, Zac Harris in Year 10 undertook a fantastic opportunity with the Shrewsbury Town Foundation - where he made an incredible impact at the club. At 18 months old, Zac was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a lifelong condition that affects movement and co-ordination. In 2015, he became a Shrewsbury Town participant and joined ShrewsAbility – cerebral palsy football sessions It was here where ‘Zac’s Miracle’ began; a fundraising journey to raise over £40k for a lifechanging selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) operation. Zac’s journey has not been easy, but he has grown up to be an incredible and inspiring individual, and that’s why, Shrewsbury Town Football Club were over the moon to welcome him to Montgomery Water's Meadow to take part in a week of work experience.

“When I first joined the Foundation, I realised that my opportunities weren’t limited and I could be who I wanted to be.

Zac Harris, Sir John Talbot's School student

Jamie Edwards, CEO at Shrewsbury Town Foundation, said; “At the end of the week everyone was sad to see Zac leave as he lit up the office. He’s got such an amazing character and is a real breath of fresh air."

Zac’s journey with Shrewsbury Town does not end there as he is now a member of their coaching academy, with aspirations to join their college and university courses next September to persue a career in coaching

We would like to thank Shrewsbury Town Football Club for the opportunity they ga e to Zac and contin e to gi e him and others Thank o also to all the

sirjohntalbots co uk

@SirJohnTalbotsSchool

The Grove School

Sonia Taylor, Headteacher

We believe that our students should have ‘a mindset to succeed’. Our curriculum has been developed to prepare our community for an ever changing world and, as such, the ability to be creative and willing to change our thinking, behaviours and aspirations is key.

Ken Robinson said that “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” Our creative subjects work tirelessly with students to help them appreciate that it is good to take risks and a positive thing to overcome the barriers to success that we may face. The ability to think creatively has been recognised as an essential skill within the workplace of the future.

“Creativity to me is being able to express myself in many different ways. Personally, I think it means taking risks and facing fears. It means thinking outside the box and trying new things.

Jessica Williams, Grove Sixth Form student

Our Year 9 students have begun their Bronze Arts Award journey, building on the successes of 147 of our students who completed the award last year, in a first for the Marches Academy Trust. This nationally recognised qualification, allows students to see arts subjects in a different light, offering a broader view, building on and applying their knowledge. It shows the commitment that we have as a school for the role that performing and visual arts play in appreciating the creative world around us.

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In Music and Drama, students have looked at performance roles and prepared song cover versions and developed their own characters, scripts and how-to-guides detailing the direction of these. In Art, students have chosen an artist that interests them and researched about their life, career and work, putting together a presentation.

In Design & Technology, our Year 7s have been creating a simple articulated hand whilst developing both their knowledge of forces and careers available in robotics. Next term, students will be combining all of this knowledge to design and make a ‘Rube Goldberg machine’ chain reaction to solve a problem. Some students in our ‘Grobotics’ after school club have also been building a robot called Grover to compete in a national Vex competition called "Slap Shot" where they will need to complete several driving and coding challenges.

This year’s theme in the Food Teachers Centre competition is ‘Patterns and Shapes’ and we will be entering the ‘Most Novel’ and ‘Age 14 and above’ categories with some of our students’ most innovative designs. An opportunity to showcase creativity as they prepare themselves for their final Hospitality and Catering practical assessments.

This term, our young people have performed as part of VoiceBox, The Grove School’s Choir at Market Drayton’s Festival of Lights and collaborated with the local community choir, ‘A Choired Taste’, and showcased some solo sets of their own.

Students also performed songs and readings at the Christmas Carol Service at St. Mary’s Church. Each school brings songs, readings and shares festive hymns with the wider community for a truly wholesome build up to Christmas. The term then finished with the schoo Cracker’ concert which showcased a wide range of our students’ musical talents with the Drama department preparing dramatic scenes and dances from students of all ages and levels of experience, allowing them to push and challenge themselves in front of a live audience whilst also experiencing the thrill of bringing their creativity to life.

Grange Primary School

The children have been involved with a vast range of activities from windsock making to flower dissections. There has also been construction of Lego pyramids, making of gingerbread houses and den-building. We know that it is these types of hands-on experiences which really bring learning to life for Grangers.

As well as the activities going on in classrooms, we have also held some fantastic school events including Hello Yellow, Anti-Bullying Week, Children in Need and activities for Remembrance Day. It is always wonderful to see the school community coming together to mark these special days and demonstrate our school values of respect and kindness We have also had the fantastic chance to be involved with a range of creative events at Shrewsbury School These have included the Big Draw –where children had the opportunity to make badges and create other pieces of art using a range of media. Our Year 4 and 5 children have also attended weekly dance and singing lessons. The Year 5s put on a wonderful carol service for parents which even included some audience participation for some well-known Christmas songs.

An important part of our Granger curriculum is ensuring the children have a range of different experiences while they are with us. The children particularly enjoyed our visit from a rock and pop band this term. We also hosted a ‘cinema experience’ film night with snacks including popcorn!

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It has been a busy and certainly creative term here at Grange Primary School. On my walks around school, I continue to be delighted by the engaging and powerful learning experiences going on in classrooms throughout school:

Charlotte Summers, Headteacher

Sport remains an important part of the curriculum at Grange Primary School. We have been lucky enough to run some tennis workshops and take part in football games with other schools in the Marches Academy Trust. We love being able to make links with children from the other Trust schools. One aspect of this is our participation in the One Voice group. Alfie and Gracie from Year 6 made us very proud at their meeting this term by the way they confidently presented what they had done as the One Voice representatives at Grange. Student voice is an integral part of the way school is run. It has been great to see a school council elected this term and I look forward to hearing their suggestions about how we can improve school life further

The Christmas Market was a roaring success with l school fund. It was great to see the children becom selling Christmas decorations they had designed a thank everybody in our community who helped an The themes of expression and creativity were certa and infant nativity and KS2 carols round the tree c It was wonderful to see the hard work of children and staff come to fruition in these wonderful performances.

As the term comes to a close, may I take this opportunity to wish our school community a restful and happy Christmas!

It is really interesting, we meet up with oth their ideas.

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Alfie B, Grange Primary School pupil

Woodlands School

In Art, pupils have been working on a graffiti and a street art project This has given them the opportunity to really express themselves creatively. With Banksy as their artist focus, pupils have experimented with a variety of paint application techniques and had the opportunity to use spray paints and stencils on their artwork. The final pieces have been proudly displayed in our new outdoor gallery on the external walls of the building to showcase the fabulous work of our pupils in Art.

Mountain biking has allowed our young people to creatively explore the outdoors while developing their physical and mental wellbeing. Shropshire is blessed with a number of trails, and these have been eagerly explored. The mountain bikes also involve a level of maintenance which has given the opportunity to fix and solve a number of technical issues.

Forest School is an excellent way for our young people to explore nature and learn a variety of creative skills, such as fire making, outdoor cooking and den building It has helped to develop a strong sense of responsibility regarding conservation, and they have taken pride in their work and the Forest School camp that they have created. Nature has had a positive effect on learning and stimulated creative expression which can often be difficult.

There have been a number of educational trips which has enriched the learning and experiences of our young people. The Exotic Zoo trip enabled a better understanding of a variety of animals and conservation From snakes, goats to armadillos the trip was a real cultural experience, and a good time was had by all!

“ Julia Taylor, Headteacher

We have had lots of creative learning taking place at Woodlands School this term:

Lower Heath CE Primary School

At Lower Heath CE Primary School, we are passionate about enhancing children’s learning by creating interesting, varied and fun activities throughout the curriculum. At the start of every term, topics are ‘launched’. Children and staff have a dress-up-day and take part in different learning opportunities to trigger intrigue and curiosity. We had some wonderful-looking stone-age cave people and Victorian school children in that day to stimulate the children’s imaginations.

To further enrich learning, visits have taken place to Oswestry Hill Fort, Fordhall Farm and Theatre Severn to see a pantomime. We have also had visits into school from Shropshire Falconry Centre and Tagtiv8, finding creative ways to enthuse children with their English and maths learning.

Within the classroom, hands on, practical activities are incorporated wherever possible: building electrical circuits within science; creating urban landscapes using Lego; and using junk modelling to engineer a rocket for a mission to the moon! All these experiences support children to develop resilience and problem solving skills and to see things differently.

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It’s been a wonderful first term and my first as Headteacher. I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting the staff, children, families and the wider community and it fills me with great optimism for the coming year.

Helen Reynolds, Headteacher

Fauls Holy Immanuel Church remains an important part of our school life. Children have embraced the opportunity to write and share prayers, poems and songs in Harvest celebrations as well as taking part in Nativity performances and Carol Services. As a special treat, our Key Stage Two children were invited to visit the Bradbury Care Centre to sing carols. Lower Heath children love to sing!

Our children continue to benefit from our varied selection of after school clubs which embrace and enhance their talents. A group of musical children are preparing for the national initiative ‘Young Voices’ – the largest school choir in the world. Our Food Technology club designed and produced a selection of Christmas delicacies to sell at our Christmas Fair. This was a fantastic community event bringing our Lower Heath family together to begin the festive preparations.

Connect with us to find out more about our school and nursery!

Visit: lowerheath.co.uk @lowerheathcofeprimaryschool

Longlands Primary School

All change encourages creativity as we develop new ways of working, ways to build excitement and engagement into the daily lives of our children and the wider community. Often, our pupils share their creativity through active learning and one of the improvements to the outside learning environment has been Fir Class’s new stage. They have been singing, dancing and telling stories already! This is going to be a great enhancement to develop a love of performing and becoming confident communicators. In Nursery, the children also put their creativity into working together to build a castle using their large waffles, and they were, quite rightly, very proud. Creativity, through active learning, has also been important for Maple Class who have linked their topic of the Great Fire of London to their PE lessons this half term. They created a dance demonstrating what they had learnt in their History lessons by mirroring, moving in unison an travelling with their peers.

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The past term at Longlands Primary School has been full of new starts and positive change - from new starters joining us in Reception, improvements to our outside learning environment and being warmly welcomed to the school.

Lisa Millington, Headteacher

Other classes have been exploring our value of creativity through other aspects of Art. The Year 1 children in Willow Class have been inspired by the work of Clarice Cliff - creating their own colour-splash plates, whereas the Year 4 children, in Elm, have been enjoying creating still life drawings through experimenting with sketching and shading techniques, achieving some stunning results.

Year 5 have been using their creative flair to plan, write and edit Christmas Stories for the Marches Academy Trust competition. There were lots of heart-warming ideas as well as many full of Christmas calamity. We hope that your Christmas celebrations are much less eventful!

We have also seen creativity in Science in Years 3 and 6. The Year 3 children in Rowan have been experimenting with different surfaces to conduct a friction investigation, while Oak Class invited parents in to help them get creative whilst exploring reflection, as part of their Science topic on light They used Art skills to create pieces using mirrors and explored what was possible! It turns out that our very own "Buzz" is symmetrical and by drawing 'half' a picture and using a mirror, they could create a whole im ge inspired b o r school logo!

The beauty of creativity have very much enjoye classroom, with our cla moments of inspiration our Year 6 pupils...

Logan Todd, Longlands Prim

longlandsprimaryschool.co.uk @LonglandsPrimarySchool

Being creative gives and lets us explore us even better idea

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Tilstock CE Primary School

We know that when learning new knowledge, a child's personal responses (whether emotional or physical) to an event, experience or idea will in turn inspire their creativity and imagination. We have very often witnessed our children trying to make sense of new experiences, people and places by making connections with their own previously learnt personal experiences, and to hear these individual connections is a privilege.

This is illustrated beautifully in our Bumblebee learning journeys, when trying to make sense of the dark. We ask the question and wait and listen for individual responses. These are captured in their drawings and we know that a picture tells a thousand words! This helps our staff to understand the thinking behind this child’s idea of the dark, where they are on their learning journey and we as adults can support further learning.

In PHSE we explored body image, which is so important for good mental and physical health and our children’s response to the question “What do you love about you?” in Nursery prompted many individual precious responses. This in turn led to a great discussion about how we are all unique and special in our own way.

We believe that we should make every effort to notice each child’s unique contribution to a discussion, project or outcome, however small, so that the feel truly noticed and valued. This can be represented in a problem-solving activity whereby all children are required to contribute their ideas to find a solution.

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For us, creativity is having the opportunity to be able to respond individually to what they see, hear, feel and experience.

Rowena Kaminski, Headteacher

In learning time, we have recognised, that for children to make their own powerful connections and give their own unique response, it is better to steer away from providing an end goal, target or objective.

Creativity builds confidence and resilience. If we only give a set outcomes and goals, then children can easily become restricted and disheartened if they don’t meet that set criteria Children have been learning about the eye as part of their science work. We allowed them to represent their learning in different ways – just look at this beautiful paper model of the eye produced by one of our Year 1s. tilstockprimaryschool

Continuous provision in the Early Years is something we have mastered and this incredible child-led learning provides space and time to experience and explore. Through careful questioning and expert knowledge of the curriculum, we are there to help and encourage children to develop their own questions, curiosity and creativity. We are now developing this aspect of learning to support our children’s transition from Reception to Year 1 Miss Hunter has begun her unit of learning by asking the children what they know and what they would like to find out. She will carefully plan based on their curiosities and build on their learning over time, as a result, we will have engaged children as we are responding to their individual interests.

Oakmeadow CE Primary School

Science and Design & Technology have been areas in which we have been developing this term. Through these, we are encouraging pupils to find ideas to solve problems and create imaginative products. An example of this is in Year 3 where they have been exploring electrical systems, creating products that use simple switches and circuits.

In Drama, we have had a number of pupil achievements outside of school. One of these were when two pupils from Year 6 performed on the main stage at Theatre Severn in the show ‘Nativity’. Elijah played Zac and was in a boy band. Mia played Becky – a star and singing Sparkle and Shine We were very proud to have some Oakies on stage! We also encourage performance within school - as we marked Remembrance Day, our Year 3 and 4 children created a beautiful service for the school. This involved sharing their creative readings and poems; we also had some lovely artwork on display. This half term’s Lead Prefects, Annabel and Dylan from Year 6, were asked to attend the village service at the memorial hall and invited to read a poem. It is lovely for school to be invited to attend community events and we always look forward to these!

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We aim to promote creativity in all its forms at Oakmeadow CE Primary School. We encourage children to try out new ideas, to problem solve and use their imagination in a variety of ways and across a variety of subjects:

Samantha Hill, Headteacher

We’re also helping the children to consider those less fortunate than themselves and for Children In Need we dressed up in spots to join the rest of the nation raising funds. It was lovely to see how creative some children had been with their spotty outfits. On celebrating the launch of our Reading Challenge based around British Heroes earlier in the term, we also had some wonderful home-made costumes worn to school – many choosing to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

This term we also held our annual creative fireworks event - we are extremely grateful to the Friends of Oakmeadow PTA for all the support with organisation and for giving up their time to run stalls, and our staff who did the same It is always a lovely event to work at but we do appreciate the extra hours this means for them All the money raised at the fireworks and other events run by the PTA go straight back into provision for our children so they are well worth doing.

We have been incredibly proud of a group of Year 6 pupils who ran a bake sale to raise money for Cancer Research UK. They put in a lot of work advertising it around school and stayed after school with our kitchen lead to bake the cakes. They raised a wonderful £188 for the charity! Year 6 have also supported Operation Christmas Child through visiting Home Bargains with money they had raised to make shoe boxes full of gifts for those in need of a smile.

Our EYFS has received investment this term – our outdoor and indoor continuous provision has developed greatly and through the enabling environment, our younger pupils are benefiting from opportunities to be creative explorers, to use their imagination and problem solve with others. We feel very lucky to have such a wonderful space for our children and staff who promote creative learning.

Visit: oakmeadowprimary.co.uk @oakmeadowceschool

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