Category Archives: Creativity

Breaking News: Big Lottery launches Young Start Fund

March 16, 2012 Ms Higgins Leave a comment

Announced on the 13 March 2012 is the ‘Young Start’ grants programme run by the Big Lottery Fund to distribute money from dormant accounts. £10K-£50.

Young Start aims to create opportunities for children and young people aged between 8 and 24 to help realise their potential. All children and young people, and the communities they live in, have something to offer which Big Lottery Fund want to tap into, build and develop. They recognise that some children and young people face barriers to achieving their full potential and want Young Start to help overcome these.

Outcomes
CONFIDENT – Children and young people have more confidence and skills
HEALTHY – Children and young people have better physical, mental and emotional health
CONNECTED -Younger and older generations are better connected and have more understanding and respect for each other

Project examples and further information is available by clicking here

Creative Learning, Numeracy and Maths, Primary schools, Secondary schools

Creative teaching!

March 16, 2012 Ms Higgins Leave a comment

‘Pupils should learn maths through using it’

Teachers should allow pupils to learn maths by using it rather than focusing on abstract concepts, says an expert.

Professor Dave Pratt of the Institute of Education argues innovative teaching techniques and technology could help more pupils engage with the subject.

Read article

Competition, Creative Scotland, Creativity, Opportunities, Secondary schools

Will your secondary school win the Keys to Stirling Castle?

March 14, 2012 Ms Higgins Leave a comment

Pupils from Larbert High School today, Tuesday 13^th March, attended the launch of the Keys to the Castle Competition at Stirling Castle.

The Keys to the Castle Competition is organised by Historic Scotland in partnership with Springboard Scotland and is open to all secondary schools in Scotland.

Click here for ALL the info!

Creativity, Education Scotland

Creative Resource: Transform Toolkit

March 7, 2012 Ms Higgins Leave a comment

Education Scotland has published a new online resource, Transform Toolkit. The toolkit has been created by National Theatre of Scotland and Education Scotland to give every school and community the chance to create their own transformative experience.

Transform is an initiative which gives opportunities to schools and communities to work collaboratively on a large-scale creative project and allows participants to engage with and learn from artists from a range of creative industries.

Transform can be carried out by using the range of suggested tasks provided in the toolkit and/or with CPD support from National Theatre of Scotland. You can use the toolkit as a guide and it is designed to allow you to pick and choose the appropriate activities for the participants.

To use the tool kit use this link: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/resources/t/transformtoolkit/introduction.asp?strReferringChannel=ltscotland&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-609604-64

For more information contact National Theatre of Scotland on 0141 221 0970 or Simon.Sharkey@nationaltheatrescotland.com or
Education Scotland: lauren.greenaway@educationscotland.gov.uk

CPD, Creativity, Curriculum for Excellence, Opportunities

Learner Voice and Pupil Participation Conference, 23 March 2012

March 7, 2012 Ms Higgins Leave a comment

If you are interested in developing ‘learner voice’ and ‘pupil participation’ within your classroom, school or local authority, there will be a national conference in Edinburgh on Friday, 23 March 2012.

The event will feature sessions and workshops presenting successful and effective examples of developing and sustaining a pupil centred and participatory learning environment.

With a keynote address by Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, some of the main themes covered on the day will include: rights respecting schools, community partnership projects, pupil councils, learner engagement with Curriculum for Excellence and peer education. The event will also provide reference to global citizenship as a theme across learning highlighting how sustainability or international education allow for inclusive and pupil driven learning experiences.

Register for this free event today, or for further details please contact Diane Carson on 0141 282 5172 or email globalcitizens@educationscotland.gov.uk

Creative Learning, Creativity, Education Scotland, Marks on a Landscape, Opportunities

Wanted! Creative teachers and group workers!

March 7, 2012 Ms Higgins Leave a comment

Are you creative in the classroom? Do you empower creativity in your young people?
Education Scotland is looking for teachers and CLD staff who use creativity in their work to speak up and share their creative learning and teaching approaches with the rest of Scotland through a series of very short online film clips.

Creativity in its purest sense involves generating original ideas that have value and crosses ALL areas of the curriculum (not just the arts) and we are looking for examples from subjects as diverse as PE, Languages and Maths. It could be the young people learning creative skills or an approach to lesson planning that is particularly creative. What creativity might involve can be found here: http://glo.li/xGyO32

Here are the questions we would like to put to you:

• What is creativity (to you)?

• Why be creative in your teaching?

• What happens when the young learners are engaged in a creative activity?

• What did you and your young learners do that was creative?
You might explain an example of what creativity looks like in your classroom or group.
You might detail day-to-day creative approaches or else explain a specific project, topic or development.
How did this specifically benefit you and the young people?

You will be filmed by a professional film company (they really put you at your ease) who will come to you, fit around your timetable, and the whole process of setting up and filming will take less than half an hour. Ultimately we are capturing just 3 minutes of glorious quality footage from you that will be shared through the Creativity Portal. This is a great opportunity to showcase your creativity to a national audience.

The filming will be arranged to suit you some time in the next three weeks.

It takes moments to offer your experience or suggest a colleague who you think would fit the bill:
Go to: http://glo.li/z0Mi3s
Email: Stephen.bullock@educationscotland.gov.uk
Phone: 0141 282 5194

Competition, Creativity, Curriculum for Excellence, Opportunities, Primary schools

Fife primary school’s animation wins national film award!

March 7, 2012 Ms Higgins 2 Comments

Well done Burntisland Primary School!

The children from Burntisland Primary School won the award for their stop motion film, Granny Mac’s Meringues.

The children from Burntisland Primary School made Granny Mac’s Meringues as part of a school project.

The children from Burntisland Primary School took just two months to create their stop motion film, Granny Mac’s Meringues.

The children were involved in writing the script, building the set and models, filming and recording voiceovers.

In the film, the Queen travels to Hisland Island to choose a hat from famous milliner Hettie McHattie for the Royal Wedding. On the boat on the way back to the mainland there is a mix up with the boxes and the hat goes missing.

The children were one of three groups shortlisted for the Best Film by Under 11s at the First Light Awards. They were up against films from Middlesbrough and Belfast.

The competition was judged by Danny Boyle and Sam Mendes .

Find out more http://news.stv.tv/scotland/east-central/299963-primary-schools-animation-wins-national-film-award/

Creativity

2012 World Creativity & Innovation Week

March 5, 2012 Ms Higgins Leave a comment

World Creativity & Innovation Week April 15 – 21

Creativity is in you…use it…Go!

Creativity, Expressive Arts, Opportunities, Primary schools, Secondary schools

Face Britain

March 5, 2012 Ms Higgins Leave a comment

Face Britain is the UK’s largest mass collaborative art project, and involves children and young people aged 4-16 in creating self portraits. The project has been designed with schools in mind and all self portraits will celebrated in a number of exiting ways including screenings on BBC Big Screens in 21 cities around the UK which will become the official Olympic Live Sites this summer. So far over 1000 schools have signed up and submitted over 13,000 portraits.

To view the gallery visit: http://www.facebritain.org.uk/

Click here for full details- Face Britain

For further information on Children and the Arts programmes and resources visit www.childrenandarts.org.uk