Energising literacy through collaboration

Hastings and St Leonards is in a coastal location, with issues which affect many such communities, including a high level of social deprivation. In 2000, when the EAZ was set up, it was the 27th most deprived local authority area (out of 354) on the multiple deprivation index. This has improved somewhat and in 2004, when the cluster started, it was the 39th most deprived. It still contained the highest proportion of super output areas (SOAs, small geographical areas of about 1,500 residents) in the most deprived 20% in the South East region.

Background
Excellence clusters are a government initiative targeting pockets of social and economic deprivation. They are continuing to develop and expand the work begun in Excellence in Cities, particularly in deprived rural and coastal communities. The cluster in Hastings and St Leonards developed from a successful education action zone, with a primary focus of improving educational attainment. The work of the EAZ had been recognised and supported by all schools in Hastings and St Leonards, and on transformation in 2004 the secondary school in Rye also joined the cluster.

Rationale
One of the key roles of the cluster, and of the gifted and talented strand within it, has been to foster links and collaboration between schools. In a competitive climate and with a wide variety of success and attainment levels among the schools in the cluster, this has not always been easy. But project development manager Jennifer Seaton has conceived a variety of artistic projects which have provided a way of promoting links between schools and making excellent use of the existing high-quality gifted and talented provision in the arts. These projects have included: Utopia (in collaboration with the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill), Muse (involving several schools in a ‘Chinese whispers’-type project based on the arts) and Zeitgeist (a transitional holiday project).

Because of this wealth of experience, when the headteacher of Sandown Primary School made a specific request for a performing arts project that would have an impact on the curriculum and inspire teachers to use dance as a tool for learning, it seemed an ideal opportunity to try something new based on the strengths and talents already present in the cluster team. She was keen for the project to focus on dance and literacy and so the cluster dance worker, Ian Fuller, and the poetry and creative writing tutor, local poet Richard Evans, were engaged in the process from the start.

The project
The early stages involved consultation with the teachers in the school to find out more about the curriculum and where the project could best fit in to enhance it. A positive link with a dance teacher, Marion Dawson, in the nearby secondary school (Hillcrest) enabled the project to make a productive connection there.

It was finally decided that the project would focus on Year 5 and their topic for that term, the Battle of Hastings. A visit to nearby Battle Abbey and the battlefields themselves was an important starting point, and shortly afterwards the cluster’s poetry tutor led a gifted and talented workshop with selected pupils, where they wrote a collective poem based on the events of the battle. This poem, The Battle of Hastings (see box below), was immediately sent to the secondary school where a group of talented students from Years 10 and 11 devised a dance based on it, under the guidance of their dance teacher. The older students then came to the primary school to perform their dance to the whole of Year 5, and worked with the children to devise their own dance based on the theme. Through dance, the children had an opportunity to experience emotions and physical feelings (for example trudging through the mud weighed down by weapons and armour). 

The Battle of Hastings It was wet and windy that wild October day The battlefield was flushed with squelchy, fluid mud Exhausted were Harold’s soldiers, they were sunken too While William’s were not tired, but horribly alive Harold had marched one hundred miles, his men were nearly dead Shattered and battered, when they got to the battle They made a wall of shields, to save them from the swords and arrows But the Normans retreated, made a run around and split the men William was galloping along the grass, when a gasp was heard His horse fell to the floor, and William felt the ground The Norman army became angry, their leader about to be crushed The rumour spread, and men were sad, William’s soul had now departed As the villain raised his visor, he vowed he was alive With the roar of the war the sky was full of raining arrows With screaming sounds of horses and warriors As the battle went on and on, as did the terrible orders Until the final, fierce arrow flew into Harold’s eye He collapsed and was crushed on the crowded ground The roar from the ruthless Normans rung around the battlefield The screams from the Saxons shattered the Normans’ ears Bashed and bruised, the battlefield was covered with human debris With weeping and with woe the war was ended By pupils from Year 5, Sandown Primary School

Outcomes
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the project was the response of the teachers when the children came back into the classroom after their dance session.  Both class teachers reported that children were able to suggest and use an enriched vocabulary based on their experience of the dance.

The wider benefits to the school included the children’s excitement at being part of a wider collaboration, and an increased ‘buzz’ around the school generated by the project. These outcomes were reported by the headteacher, who was delighted with the outcome. Through her initial vision, a regular curriculum topic had become an emotional and ‘lived’ experience, and her teachers had a revitalising opportunity to see the important contribution  performing arts can make as an integral part of  classroom work, not just a bolt-on addition.

At Hillcrest school, the secondary students went on to perform their dance at several more events including a regional conference, and both school and dancers benefited from the acknowledgements received and the ensuing raising of their profile. The two schools in this project serve some of the most deprived areas in Hastings, and this type of positive recognition is extremely valuable in enhancing individual students’ self-esteem as well as acknowledging the unique contribution the schools already make to their community.

The wider impact of the project has also been notable, with interest shown at regional, national and international conferences. More locally, there is now a huge demand for similar projects among the schools within the excellence cluster, and a range of themes have been developed and explored in new and interesting ways. The current project focuses on the sea and different aspects of working with and on it (Hastings is still an active fishing port). It has been developed at the boys’ secondary school and will include five primary schools.

Possibilities and plans for future development include links with other curriculum areas such as science and history, also a project about to be piloted linking dance to motor skills and coordination in the early years, with the longer-term goal of enhancing handwriting ability. The excellence cluster has been able to expand its dance capacity with the employment of a new dance assistant, and to look at the impact of dance and positive movement in new and exciting ways. Links have been made across the cluster strands, such as with the inclusive learning tutor team who work intensively with vulnerable students and their families.

Tips for successful collaborative projects
There were several factors which contributed to the success of this project and may help readers who are embarking on something similar:

• Careful preparation in the planning stages is essential. This means that once the project is under way it has energy and momentum; in our experience, dance and poetry buzzed back and forth between the schools, and the main inputs of the project took place within a week or so, which maximised the impact and enabled schools to take the work on to the next stage.
• Good communication between the main partners is vital and needs to be ongoing and regular so that everyone knows what is happening, what is expected and what the needs of the project are.
• Practicalities can be crucial to the success of a project; for example in a large dance project or for a performance it is important to be able to use the school hall.
• Make projects as inclusive as possible. One very rewarding aspect of the ‘Battle’ project was that although it was targeted and funded through gifted and talented it had a much wider impact on learners of all abilities. All Year 5 students at Sandown were able to benefit from the work that had been done in both schools, and this wider inclusion is a feature of all the projects that have developed from this one.
• Documenting all the stages of the project on video ensures that a record is available so that lessons can be learned, and it can be shared with other audiences and interested parties. Any presentation of the project comes alive when students can be seen reading the poem they wrote and presenting their dance.

Creative collaboration
The concept of artists working in schools is certainly not new and has provided successful and enriching experiences for young people and their teachers for many years. What is becoming increasingly recognised, partly through small-scale projects like the one described here, is that the impact of such collaborations does not have to be limited to a small area of the curriculum reserved for the arts, but can have a positive and energising effect on many aspects of the curriculum and school life in its widest sense. This has been acknowledged through wider initiatives such as Creative Partnerships, a national government initiative focusing on the positive contributions of artists and creative activity in schools. This is often innovative and risk-taking, and where it is successful this enhances the outcomes for schools and students.

Though not always easy or straightforward, this type of collaborative work produces enriched and rewarding experiences for learners of all ages and their teachers. Links are strengthened with the community, with artists and with other schools, and a host of exciting possibilities are opened up. This is an area where gifted and talented can lead the way to demonstrate the benefits of creative and collaborative work for all learners.

Jo Counsell is gifted and talented coordinator for Hastings and St Leonards Excellence Cluste