Creativity
Curriculum statement: Creativity
“Creativity is not only an outcome of a good education, it is a means to achieving a good education.” Sir Michael Barbour.
Curriculum Aims
Creativity was once seen as a God given talent, “God has created you in his own image”, Genesis 1:27, and that only special people were seen to be creative. In our school, we believe that God has created all our pupils in his own image and so they are all special, that they all have talents and everyone has the capacity to be creative. The arts do not hold the monopoly on creativity. The subject makes this explicit and demonstrates the importance of valuable innovation in the wider world.
Creativity has changed the world we live in, and it will continue to do so as long as we develop our pupils as inspirational, individual innovators for their ever-changing world.
Creativity takes practice, and the creativity curriculum aims to develop creative teachers who inspire pupils to become creative using intelligence, knowledge and a range of ways of thinking and working to build on our pupils’ individual personalities. This develops their intrinsic motivation and satisfaction in order to engage with the world and make it a better place.
Never before has it been more important to develop our pupils as innovators. The ultimate aim of the course is to encourage pupils who are curious, self-motivated individuals and who possess a thirst for knowledge and challenge as this will provide a scaffold to support them to make the most of their lives ahead.
Curriculum Features
The curriculum builds on the practice of innovation through noticing, making connections and problem-solving as well as problem-finding, risk-taking and looking at things from different points of view - with a view to these skills leading to deep thinking and questioning, curiosity and motivation. It allows pupils to explore ideas in a safe space and learn from their practice. One of the distinctive features of the course is that we give pupils the chance to work in a democratic way, encouraging them to generate modes of investigation building on their own and others ideas. It allows pupils to take leadership roles outside the classroom in a number of “real” ways. It encourages the build-up of skills which will continue and be transferable to a wide range of situations and as life-long learners. It provides a mechanism for pupils to encourage parental engagement within the curriculum and to be role models in educating their families to see the importance of creative working and living.
Co-curricular experiences
This is an area for great development.
Our developing “Outside Inside” practice promotes creative thinking across the full curriculum. Pupils actively consider how their methods of work can be shared and enhance their learning in other subject areas.
There is a need for sharing the skills developed through creativity across all subject areas.
This could happen by developing a monthly news item which includes family fun activities, building on the skills learned in Creativity to enhance “The Edge” enrichment activities and in Enrichment Week.
What follows is a current summary of the intended subject curriculum content in each year of the key stage. It highlights the key knowledge and skills intended for learning, and some of the ways progress in the curriculum is to be assessed. It clarifies the key questions students should be addressing and gives links to help students and families to develop this learning further.
