Bedlington Station First School a-k-a The Time Institute
The Time Institute, staffed by dedicated time agents, works to defeat a powerful enemy and safeguard the timeline itself. The premise for the next Dr Who series? The plot of this summer’s next big blockbuster? It’s neither; it’s the work of a Northumberland Creative Partnerships Change School using creative approaches to develop their curriculum.
Bedlington Station First School is in its second year of the Change Schools programme, investigating which purposeful and creative approaches to the development of children’s key learning skills could be embedded in the curriculum in a sustainable way.
In the first year the school had identified six core attributes which should be developed in children:
- Competent communicators: children who question, challenge, listen, use appropriate communication to communicate with peers and adults, who respond appropriately and work well in teams;
- Emotionally literate: Children who are able to articulate feelings and live alongside others, who are empathetic, make good choices and demonstrate personal and social skills;
- Independent individuals: Children who think reflectively, self motivated, self disciplined, open minded, able to make decisions about their own learning;
- Inquisitive learners: enquiring minds, a desire to ask, explore, investigate, open minded;
- Confident children: Willing to take risks, confident to succeed/fail, question/challenge, form opinions, accept those of others, embracing strengths and differences;
- Motivated achievers: Develop secure basic skills, apply academic skills, eager to persevere, reach personal goals. Independent learners making the right choices.
The first year project aimed to develop creative models which supported curriculum and core attributes and in particular the use of dramatic framework.
The Time Institute project was based around the concept of the Mantle of the Expert, through which the school transformed itself into the government agency called 'The Time Institute'. The children took the role of agents who work in the Institute and gather evidence on events in history in order to protect the information in the Timeline. Each class researched events, questioned eyewitnesses and raced against time to help displaced historical figures.
The evidence they gathered was presented to the Time Council each Friday for inclusion in ‘The Timeline’, a website created by the school. Examples of work undertaken by the agents while working against to clock to stop Vortex - the Time Institute’s arch enemy included - saving famous works of art from history, investigating famous characters in history who had disappeared from the timeline, investigating evacuees during the second world war and the gunpowder plot, creating animations of missing events in history and keeping the Institute running by completing budgets and reports, all through the device of an agency protecting the timeline.
During the project, pupils became more aware of the core attributes developed in the first year project and working with Lesley Wood their CA developed evaluation systems that helped them to identify which of these they used and which of the attributes they needed to develop further. This allowed them to shape their own learning which led to positive attitudes towards their work and relationships with others. The school saw a significant rise in attainment in writing since starting to work in this way.
The all-staff focus on the development of core attributes led to innovative classroom management and organisation. This in turn gave staff the confidence to try new things and plan in a way that fostered core attribute development, the application of basic skills and an integrated curriculum.
Staff found they were able to reshape the curriculum to take into account of ongoing consultations with the children, which in turn motivated the children further. Staff engaged in CPD to help develop the skills that the children were introduced to during the project, in particular in web design, which the staff plan to use to sustain the development of online work with the children.
