Peases West Primary School - a School of Creativity
The pupils at Peases West Primary School in County Durham have long enjoyed a creative curriculum. However for all its creativity, the school still struggled to achieve excellence in those subjects considered to be less artistic. Enter Creative Partnerships! Through a variety of School of Creativity projects, Peases West embarked on a mission to raise standards in maths and maintain good standards in science through creative teaching and learning.
All Schools of Creativity journeys start with a question which they seek to explore during their programme of activities. Peases West’s enquiry question was incorporated into a programme of work on the Elements - air, water, earth, and fire - and the programme was linked with further development of their curriculum and the learning potential of the school environment.
In the autumn term classes embarked upon preparatory work with Pauline Taylor from arts consultancy Infinite Arts. She introduced the pupils to the theme of the Elements and together they made textile banners for the four school teams who, thereafter, took the four elements as their team names.
For the rest of the school year, landscape gardeners Colour: UDL worked with pupils and staff to re-design the landscape at the front of the school and incorporate an educational water feature. This was the latest in a series of developments in the school grounds designed to improve teaching and learning and localise the curriculum. Colour: UDL, who themselves had never engaged with children in such a collaborative way, worked with Years 3, 4 and 5 pupils to survey the area, work on designs, and quantify materials. The groups made use of aerial photographs, Google Earth and other ICTs, always keeping a focus on developing maths capability.
To engage the younger pupils, teachers returned to their longstanding 'pupil researcher' tradition, developed in earlier projects in the school. This involved Year 3, 4 and 5 pupils explaining the concepts to the younger pupils through practical demonstration. Together the children busied themselves measuring out right angles, triangulating, and measuring circumference of trees in the area at the front of the school. The year groups jointly discussed tree surveys and the potential need to remove some of the trees in order to create the water feature. This approach allows all pupils to have a sense of ownership over the project as they can take control of the direction of their learning. Furthermore, the practical hands-on nature of the sessions brings the learning to life.
Upon observing the project, Creative Agent Professor Anna Craft remarked:
"... this visit to Peases West left me with a sense of the depth and history of the school’s collaboration with Colour UDL (and other creative practitioners) to develop learning indoors and outdoors. The applied and fun nature of the learning was palpable, and children conveyed a powerful trust in the family-like structure of the school community and their relationships with children and adults in and beyond it".
As part of the project the pupils also visited the Discovery Museum in Newcastle, which at that time had an exhibition dedicated specifically to water. They went to the Quayside to observe and discuss the River Tyne, and looked at some of the buildings which have recently been built or renovated. There was a specific focus on access routes and entrance designs.
Pauline continued her work on the Elements during the summer term with a focus on Air. Every single child in the school was involved. Discussions and planning sessions engaged children with their own learning and involved maths and science, alongside the design and construction of a variety of wind mechanisms. The resulting products were installed in the outdoor learning space and became the focus of scientific observation and experimentation.
During the Easter holiday, four teachers from Peases West visited their new partner school in Finland, as part of the International Teacher Exchange in conjunction with Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. The visit was closely linked to the School of Creativity programme, although was fully funded by the British Council’s TIPD (Teachers’ International Professional Development) scheme. When flying restrictions necessitated a further week’s stay, staff were able to take full advantage of the unexpected opportunity to reflect on their learning, discuss the implications it has for their school and curriculum, and draft some future plans for discussion with colleagues on their return.
Ever eager to share their knowledge and experiences, Peases West presented at a conference on Transforming the Primary Curriculum in January 2010. Adding to their ever-growing list of achievements, an article in School Leadership Today featured the school, and the QCDA Creative and Cultural Education Probe devised a case study on Peases West’s exciting and flexible approach to the curriculum.
