The Creative Learning Development Fund
In order to promote creative learning across the curriculum at Thomas Tallis School we accept bids from curriculum and pastoral areas for funds to support a range of innovative projects. Colleagues complete a bid form at the start of the Autumn Term (see below) and this is reviewed by members of the senior team. Once the project has been refined and agreed a benchmark is established so that we can assess the impact of the project on learning and teaching. A final evaluation is completed at the end of the project and lessons are learned for the following year.
| Creative Learning Develeopment Fund Bid Form 2012 |
Key Objectives
This fund is drawn from the specialisms budget. Curriculum
and Pastoral areas will be able to bid for resources (to include time,
personnel, visiting practitioners, materials and equipment) in order to develop
the following priorities:
- Ensure that the specialisms are drivers in raising attainment across the school
- Support raising attainment in the core subjects of English, maths and science and for particular groups of students (eg, SENSA, boys)
- To promote and embed quality first teaching through the development of creative approaches to learning and teaching which enhance the levels of progress students make
- To utilise techniques and processes drawn from the visual, media and performing arts to enhance learning across the curriculum
- To embed the imaginative use of new technologies to promote high impact teaching and creative learning.
- To promote inter-disciplinary learning and collaboration
- To assess the development of skills and attributes associated with creative learning so that students, colleagues and parents develop a better understanding of how to make progress in acquiring and transferring them.
- To support the professional development of colleagues and the dissemination of best practice
What do we mean by creative learning?
We are interested in helping our students develop particular
habits of mind that will enable them to learn more creatively, to make more
progress and achieve at a higher level. We are collaborating with Professors
Bill Lucas and Guy Claxton from the Centre for Real World Learning at the
University of Winchester on developing a framework for assessing the
acquisition of these habits of mind (see below). We believe that if students
understand and are able to develop their competence in these areas, they will
be able to transfer them across the curriculum and become more independent and
resilient. These habits of mind are related but not identical to the Personal
Learning and Thinking Skills. However, we hope that this framework is even more
helpful for colleagues, students and parents in getting to grips with what is
meant by creative learning.
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Habits of Mind
Inquisitive Persistent Imaginative Disciplined Collaborative |
Sub-habits of
Mind
Wondering and Questioning Exploring and Questioning Challenging assumptions Tolerating uncertainty Sticking with difficulty Daring to be different Playing with possibilities Making connections Using intuition Crafting and improving Developing techniques Reflecting critically Co-operating appropriately Giving and receiving feedback Sharing the ‘product’ |
|
Techniques and processes from the Visual, Media and Performing Arts
We are interested in the value and impact across the
curriculum of techniques and processes associated with practice in the arts.
There is already a considerable amount of best practice in this area and we are
keen to further develop this distinctive feature of learning and teaching at
Thomas Tallis School. Our priorities include the promotion of:
• Deep Review and Reflection
• Effective feedback to support learning
• Collaboration
• Effective questioning
• Demonstrating higher order skills
The techniques and processes used to achieve these priorities might include, for example:
• Deep Review and Reflection
• Effective feedback to support learning
• Collaboration
• Effective questioning
• Demonstrating higher order skills
The techniques and processes used to achieve these priorities might include, for example:
|
Drawing for a range of purposes Developing
visual and/or media literacy
Imaginative writing (prose, poetry, drama) Responding through physical movement Curation and exhibition for real audiences Problem solving through design challenges |
Photography and photographic techniques Understanding and manipulating sound
Collaborating with a visiting practitioner Creating characters for performance Re-mixing (materials, sounds, media etc.) Designing 3D objects |
Keeping a sketchbook or design journal Creating multimedia
Film making Animation techniques Publishing to the web |
We are interested in how our students communicate their
learning and higher order thinking using as broad a range of tools, techniques
and processes as possible. We are keen to encourage students to explore a wide
range of creative products in order to show what they know.
We are also keen to promote innovative approaches to curriculum development. These might include, for example:
• Applying and evaluating particular strategies to learning across a curriculum/subject area
• Adopting an Action Research approach to all developments and finding ways to share successful learning strategies with colleagues/students/parents
• Engaging learners (and their families) as co-creators of the curriculum and evaluators of learning
• Utilising informal learning time (e.g. enrichment, after school, Saturday mornings etc.)
• Utilising residential and/or out of school learning opportunities
We are also keen to promote innovative approaches to curriculum development. These might include, for example:
• Applying and evaluating particular strategies to learning across a curriculum/subject area
• Adopting an Action Research approach to all developments and finding ways to share successful learning strategies with colleagues/students/parents
• Engaging learners (and their families) as co-creators of the curriculum and evaluators of learning
• Utilising informal learning time (e.g. enrichment, after school, Saturday mornings etc.)
• Utilising residential and/or out of school learning opportunities
