Developing Pupil Advocates as a Model for Change
This project at Southend Junior School, Rushden, Northampton, focussed on involving staff and pupils in the creation of an engaging, relevant and challenging curriculum, in order to bring about change in teaching and learning.
Project objectives
The project saw ten young people from Year 5 appointed as ‘creative experts’, given training and skills, who were involved directly in the process of developing and evaluating creative learning within their school. The creative experts were enlisted to plan, document and evaluate creative learning sessions in 3D art during an activity week.
Results
The creative experts were enlisted as part of the core planning and evaluation team in school. They worked, in part, to create a model of pupil engagement in the development and understanding of more creative teaching and learning approaches and key skills within a new curriculum.
The work of the practitioners, were crucial to the success of this model. The training and support provided to the creative experts by Catalyst Theatre Arts, an expert on pupil voice, was vital to the development of the young people. The professionalism and skill of the other practitioner, Norm Keech, drove forward the promotion and investigation of creativity and creative learning skills during the active sessions.
The schools’ Creative Agent, Sue Ward, was also very important to the process, as she disseminated information to the staff on the creative process during CPD sessions, and underpinned this with both practical and theoretical aspects and examples of creative learning.
The school has a strong belief in developing key creative skills across the curriculum, and is committed to the value of pupil voice and creative teaching and learning.
They believe passionately in providing the opportunity for all of their pupils to really be engaged in their work, and to 'Enjoy and Achieve', and recently chose to adopt the IPC to help them work towards these goals.
Prior to this enquiry, pupil voice was already a strong focus at Southend. Pupils have previously been involved in shaping teaching and learning, notably through their POLE (Pupil Observations of the Learning Environment) programme, in their school and those in their cluster.
All copyright of the related images in the gallery on the right are owned by Catalyst Theatre Arts Ltd.
