Exploring magical myths and legends through the medium of dance can bring a whole new perspective to creative learning, says Lisa Symonds
With a more creative and flexible secondary curriculum on the horizon, Rebecca Patterson and Debra Kidd explore what it could mean for CPD
How can we encourage and develop young writers? Carol Archer describes an ambitious project designed to extend creativity and enable children to evaluate their own narrative and poetry
Staff at Park View Community School, Chester-Le-Street, describe how introducing a competence-based curriculum has enabled students and teachers to begin a learning journey
Gallions Primary School teaches the entire curriculum through the arts, with fantastic results. Co-heads Paul Jackson and Emma McCarthy explain how it’s done
If the spirit of creativity were allowed to flower, could we cope? David Leat looks at the way that everyday constraints leave schools ill-equipped to teach creativity and the way that it can flourish when those constraints are removed
Guy Claxton invites debate on his eight character strengths and virtues for the learning age
Angela Youngman has found some exciting new approaches to the teaching of maths
Becky Swain from Creative Partnerships explains the initiative’s aims and how it works with schools to help develop contexts for effective creative learning
David Leat considers some of the practical problems that will arise in managing innovation
Trevor Millum outlines a truly novel way to get pupils to enjoy manipulating and using words
Patricia Lee explains how supporting children’s musical creativity can contribute to their sense of self-worth and emotional wellbeing
Many of your teachers will not be science specialists. Angela Youngman has been looking at innovative approaches to the teaching of science that help encourage children’s inquisitiveness
Restructuring the curriculum can enhance personalised learning, risk taking, creativity and Key Stage 3 and 4 results, as Mo Laycock, Headteacher, Firth Park Community Arts College, reports
Fred Redwood explains how storytelling offers a range of opportunities for learning
Incorporating more creativity in your curriculum will take staff out of their comfort zones, but will pay dividends in raised motivation and achievement for students, writes Becky Swain
Students in St Margaret’s High School in Liverpool have designed and successfully marketed a computer game. David Dennison and Les Hankin report on a striking demonstration on economic wellbeing as a diver of school activity
Mark McKergow suggests ways of using music to stimulate creativity in your pupils
Practitioners need to consider the way that space and resources can be used to encourage children’s investigations. Pat Brunton and Linda Thornton explain
Brin Best argues that we must actively teach creativity if our more able learners are to play their full role as decision-makers in the world of tomorrow.
Linda Thornton and Pat Brunton explore ways to use the children’s curiosity about their world to become self-motivated, independent learners.
A school with creativity at the heart of the learning process will benefit by increasing the motivation of staff and pupils, says former head, Dave Weston. In this article and case study, he shows the way to more imaginative approaches to curriculum planning.
G&T coordinator Peter Leyland explains how one Luton primary school has found that this thinking technique benefits everybody – students, more-able students and even staff.
A fun activity to encourage extension and development of vocabulary.
Geography is the poor Cinderella of the primary curriculum. Where did it all go wrong and what can be done about it? Paula Richardson, education adviser and chair of the publications board of the Geographical Association, makes some suggestions.
Former head Roger Smith looks at ways of promoting creativity in schools, arguing that the concept needs to have its place at the centre of the curriculum.
Our multi-cultural arts day was aimed at Year 7 students and was one of a programme of stop days around global citizenship in our school.
I have had the pleasure and honour of visiting a few schools where creativity in all forms flourishes. These schools are run by Heads who have a very strong vision of what educating children is all about, who are rebels and who do what they profoundly believe is right for children, despite the system.
How important is it to develop pupils’ creativity? Do you believe that it is possible to become more creative? How much time and effort are you prepared to put into the work?
Jo Lewis describes some active games and motivational techniques.
Rob Sheffield examines three techniques to help your team explore problems.
Many children have their lives rigidly planned out for them at home, at school and in leisure activities. They drift along waiting to be taken to venues and attend activities pre-structured for them. Others have a complete lack of any organisation in their lives and events appear to them to happen at random – if at all! How can we develop their ability to think creatively and to begin to take some control over their lives?
Once you get set in your ways, your creativity is curtailed.How do you become more flexible? Michael Maynard offers some suggestions…
Julie Bennett suggests three different techniques that you can use to motivate learners and add further dimensions to your teaching
On the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, Garry Burnett used the composer as a model to question whether creative skills such as problem-solving and interpretation can be taught
Walking on clouds: how could we engineer the possibility of walking on clouds in the sky?
The STAR workshops were designed by performers Martha and Eve to bring out students’ creativity in music, drama and discussion
In their report Serious Play: an Evaluation of Arts Activities in Pupil Referral Units and Learning Support Units, Wilkin, Gulliver and Kinder (2005) review the work of seven arts projects (four PRU based and three LSU based) that have taken place in recent years.
SWOT is a frequently used management tool, useful for reflection, decision-making and appraising options
As you begin a new school year, fresh and rejuvenated from the summer break, many of you will be looking for new and inspiring ways to achieve more creative teaching and learning throughout your school. If you’ve not heard of Creative Partnerships, then now would be a good time to find out more.