Category Archives: Subjects and Themes

Colleges, Community Learning and Development, Early Learning, Primary, Research and Strategy, Secondary

Creative Exchange: How do we nourish and develop every child’s innate creativity?

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Tuesday 26 May 16.30 – 18.30 FREE

at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh

 

Aimed at teachers and educators of all subject areas, ages and abilities

delivered in partnership with the Arts & Creative Learning team, City of Edinburgh Council

 

Due to the popularity of previous sessions, we are offering  another opportunity for educators to share ideas with each other. Do you have a burning question about creativity that you’d like to explore with like-minded colleagues? Or want to hear how other educators are developing creativity in the classroom? Whether you work with nursery, primary or secondary age groups, come along and share solutions as well as problems.

You are invited for 10-15 minutes to either:

present an idea, project or activity which you have found develops the creativity of learners, or

to raise a question/ bring a challenge you face in promoting creative teaching and learning. Seek solutions from the other participants.

 

Please book by 22nd May. Contact education@nationalgalleries.org for a booking form

 

 

Drama, Primary, Sciences, Technologies

The Astro Science Challenge – a free space science adventure for 7-11 year olds

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An epic adventure for primary school children about the science of going into space, running in conjunction with Tim Peake aka Britain’s Next Astronaut going into space aboard the International Space Station.

Click here to find out more and register your school’s interest in being involved in this free, high profile project: http://www.astrosciencechallenge.com/find-out-more/

The adventure will consist of six ‘episodes’, each with a new science-based challenge for the students to complete. All participants who successfully complete each challenge in the adventure are rewarded with an online digital badge endorsed by one of our partners.

Each episode will be created in partnership with some of the UK’s most brilliant space science organisations, including the UK Space Agency, The Met Office, The Science Museum, The Royal Observatory, Young Rewired State and NASA Mission X.

It will run over the second half of the autumn term, October-December 2015.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

Thanks to funding from Arts Council England, Garfield Weston, The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Foyle Foundation The Astro Science Challenge is free for primary schools and children aged 7-11 throughout the UK.

Community Learning and Development, Early Learning, Music, THIS IS A TEST

Big Big Sing Concerts

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Find out about the latest Big Big Sing concerts around Scotland here: http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=5b7cf9d79d4ce55f9e3504ae0&id=8e4bb3e855&e=2b99d76951

Come and join us for an afternoon packed full of song, smiles and laughter at…

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Sat 16 May 12 – 5pm Book here
Edinburgh Usher Hall Sun 17 May 12 – 5pm Book here
Aberdeen Music Hall Sat 30 May 12 – 5pm Book here
Dundee Caird Hall Sun 31 May 12 – 5pm Book here

Tickets are just £5 and free to concessions (U16s, Students, Senior Citizens, Unwaged)

Art and Design, Secondary

Creative Conversation – Edinburgh, How Humour and Creative Talent can Challenge our Ideas

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Creative Conversations – this is your invitation to chat to Rachel McLean, (artist, film-maker and all round funny and interesting person!) and David Cameron.

 

Her show Happy & Glorious explored themes of class and national identity.  Her work is described as ‘slipping inside and outside of history and into imagined futures, creating hyper-glowing, artificially saturated visions that are both nauseatingly positive and cheerfully grotesque’. Her film A Whole New World, commissioned for the Margaret Tait Award 2013 in conjunction with Glasgow Film Festival, Creative Scotland and Lux takes on Scottish independence and British empire in her signature hyper-saturated and surreal style.

 

Date for your diary:

The next Creative Conversation,  titled ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, will be on Friday 15th May at 2.00 till 4.15/4.30. You can arrive any time from 1.00pm onwards and a buffet lunch will be available – there will be a glass of wine offered after and you can continue the conversation with David, Rachel and colleagues (venue to follow with confirmation of attendance).

 

This Creative Conversation will look at how humour and creative talent can challenge our ideas about history, politics, class and identity – among other things…..

 

Senior pupils, particularly those studying art and design, music, drama, social subjects and media would find this interesting. If you have any senior pupils who would like to attend could you please let us know as soon as possible. (apologies for the short notice).

 

As always this will be a very popular Creative Conversation. This is your invitation and if you would like to come please get back to me directly. If you would like to bring a colleague, please tell me their name and job title. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. I’ll send full venue details and confirmation of your place next week.

 

We look forward to seeing you on the 15th.

Linda

 

      Creative Learning Network:

Education Scotland in partnership with Creative Scotland has awarded City of Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian Councils funding to develop the Creative Learning Network. This will be based on extending the very successful approach developed by Edinburgh which a number of other authorities have adopted and adapted.

 

Creative Conversations are opportunities for colleagues interested in creativity and education across all sectors to come together and engage in high quality professional dialogue. Each Creative Conversation has a creative catalyst and the conversation is facilitated by David Cameron (the real David Cameron!). There is always opportunity to continue the discussion over a glass of wine in an informal setting. Each Creative Conversation is in an interesting venue and over 2014/15 will take place across the 3 local authority areas. Previous Creative Conversations have included well known figures such as Tim Brighouse, Keir Bloomer, Frank Crawford, Laurie O’Donnell, Hywel Roberts, Eric Booth, Heather Reid and many others. Conversations are always about creativity and have covered technology, funding, self evaluation and  preparing for inspection (creatively!), science and art, flipped learning and much more. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is just about art – it’s about creativity in the widest sense.

 

 

Linda Lees | Service Manager, Arts and Creative Learning | Schools and Community Services | Children and Families | The City of Edinburgh Council, Waverley Court, Business Centre 1/1, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8BG | Tel 0131 469 3956 | Mobile 07917 825007 | mailto:linda.lees@edinburgh.gov.uk | www.edinburgh.gov.uk

 

Colleges, Dance, Early Learning, Health and Wellbeing, Primary, Secondary

YDance – CPD opportunities still available!

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  • DANCE FOR CORE PE
  • NATIONAL 5 DANCE
  • INCLUSIVE DANCE PRACTICE DAY
  • DANCE FOR NURSERY EDUCATION

 

DANCE FOR CORE PE

With a focus on Contemporary and Streetdance styles learn how to warm up your pupils, play creative dance games, teach a simple sequence, develop a sequence, use stimulus to create dance material and encourage the participants to develop their confidence, creativity and co-operation skills. These sessions also address some of the CfE Health and Wellbeing outcomes.

Friday 29 May, 9.30am to 4pm at Mad Studios – £85 (Look out for our special discount codes or recommend a friend)

NATIONAL 5 DANCE

This SQA qualification requires students to study 2 different dance styles and choreography to achieve this national qualification. Choose from the options listed below to build your own National 5 Dance course:

Contemporary – Mon 11 May Jazz – Tue 12 May Hip-hop – Wed 13 May Choreography – Thu 14 May

Individual Costs – £85

YDance National 5 Package – £285

(includes 2 dance style days, the Choreography day and a copy of the Choreographic DVD resource)

Each of these sessions take place at Mad Studios from 9.30am to 4pm (Mad Studios, 13 Main Street, Coatbridge, ML5 3AJ)

 

INCLUSIVE DANCE PRACTICE DAY

Develop your teaching skills for delivering dance with children and young people with additional support needs in this one day course:

  1. Methods of inclusive practice
  2. Creative ideas for pupils with and without additional support needs
  3. Planning & structuring a lesson plan / creative workshop

Wednesday 29 April, 9.30am to 3.30pm – £85 (Look out for our discounts or recommend a friend for 10% off)

DANCE FOR NURSERY EDUCATION

Develop your teaching skills for delivering dance with early years children:

  1. Creative ideas for dance classes inspired by stories and topics
  2. Planning and structuring a lesson plan / creative workshop
  3. Using props and music

Thursday 28 May, 9.30am to 3.30pm – £85 (Look out for our discounts or recommend a friend and receive 10% off)

Dance, Early Learning, Music, Primary

Imaginate Festival – dance for early learning and 6+

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With less than 4 weeks to go until this year’s Imaginate Festival, we thought you may like to know a little bit more about some of the gems we have in store for you and your family and, as always, the rare opportunity to see some of the best international theatre and dance performances made especially for young audiences. From Denmark The Gold Digger from Teatret Møllen (for 10 + years) Laced with live blue-grass music, songs and stories, The Gold Digger tells the tale of urban legend, Laust Eriksen and his fellow gold diggers who travel to America in search of gold and the dream of a better life.

  • “The Gold Digger is a performance you will want to see twice.” Jydske Vestkysten

From the Netherlands

Dream City (Droomstad) from De Dansers (for 6 + years) De Dansers excel in creating the most stunning and invigorating dance and live music. Join them for a roller-coaster ride of a show that will have you bouncing in your seat!

  • “A fabulous, exciting and fast-moving mix of rock concert and dance performance” Panopikum Festival Nurnberg

And from Scotland We Dance, wee groove from Stillmotion A dance experience like no other for 6 months – 5 year olds. Made especially for the very young dancer (and we all know one of those), take the floor with your own special moves as you join the musical journey around the world and into space. Think Salsa meets Hip-Hop, think Scotland meets space…

  • “We Dance, wee groove is crammed with all kinds of motivational/developmental stuff that tots thrive on, what makes it a winner is the feel good factor that it uncorks…” The Herald

Hup from Starcatchers and RSNO A relaxed and comfortable performance made especially for babies, Hup features a quirky quartet of playful musicians creating an enchanting classical music experience for 0 – 2 year olds and their families.

  • “The shows are not about creating mini-Mozarts or baby Bachs of the future, but are about boosting early child development and close bonding” STV News

 

So, if you have a blossoming dancer or musician in your family, why not give their imagination wings and join us for some of the best dance and music Europe has to offer! But, hurry as tickets are selling fast! Tickets are available from the Traverse Theatre Box Office: 0131 228 1404 or at www.traverse.co.uk For more information on the full programme on offer, including trailers, click here. We look forward to welcoming you to the Imaginate Festival 2015 and hope you have a wonderful time! Best wishes The Imaginate Team

Colleges, Community Learning and Development, Early Learning, Primary, Research and Strategy, Secondary

Failing in Education: a conversation

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A one day event exploring risk and failure within the education system

 

Failing is an essential part of learning but does our education system provide authentic learning environments that thrive on risk, experimentation and failure?

West Lothian Creative Learning Network and Hidden Giants invite you to spend a day exploring failure and how it manifests within our education system.   The day will bring together examples of prototype learning conceived by creative practitioners, teachers and classes from across West Lothian.  We will also hear from education specialist ‘The Real’ David Cameron.

The event will take place at Howden Park Centre, Livingston on Friday 12th June.

The event will start with registration from 9.00am will run from 9.30am until 2.30pm, lunch will be provided. This event is open to anyone who has an interest in today’s education system. Please see more information below and to book your FREE ticket please use the link below to go to Brown Paper Tickets:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1557056

 

Over the last 8 months West Lothian CLN and Hidden Giants have collaborated with the James Young High cluster to explore risk and failure within learning and teaching.  The schools have established dangerous partnerships with 4 creative practitioners to unsettle comfort zones, intensify risk taking behaviour, and disrupt the norm.

 

The four groups have created experiments exploring risk within their context:  a nursery, P3 class, P6 class and the CDT department in the secondary.  Through these experiments the schools explored their own ‘risk thresholds’ and are ready to share them.

 

If you’ve ever failed in education or feel that education is failing then we invite you to join us at Howden Park Centre on Friday 12th June.  It might fail, in fact, if it doesn’t, we’ll be disappointed.

 

West Lothian CLN and Hidden Giants

 

The event is part of the Emporium of Dangerous Ideas http://www.collegedevelopmentnetwork.ac.uk/fodi/festival-of-dangerous-ideas  and is supported by Education Scotland and Creative Scotland.

 

 

If you would like any more information please do not hesitate to get in touch, my contact details are below. We look forward to seeing you there.

 

Regards

Fiona

 

Fiona Macfarlane

Arts Officer (Learning)

West Lothian Council

Community Arts

Howden Park Centre

Howden

Livingston

EH54 6AE

 

Tel :01506 773873

Email: fiona.macfarlane2@westlothian.gov.uk

www.howdenparkcentre.co.uk

www.linlithgowburghhalls.co.uk

 

Research and Strategy

Character, Culture and Values international conference

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Character, Culture and Values is an international conference hosted by Character Scotland and partners in University of Glasgow on 15th and 16th June 2015. It will be the first event of its kind in Scotland, designed to explore the continuing global shift towards character and values-based education and to examine what this could mean for us in Scotland.

 

The event has been curated by the charity’s Executive Officer, Gary Walsh, with the support of an advisory group involving Education Scotland, GTCS, SQA, Improvement Service/COSLA, Scottish Youth Parliament, Keep Scotland Beautiful, CBI Scotland, Investors in People, University of Glasgow and the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtue in University of Birmingham. Keynote speakers include Dr Avis Glaze, Prof Marvin Berkowitz, the Bishopbriggs Community Ambassadors and social entrepreneur Josh Littlejohn. There are many other speakers taking part in the programme of seminars and workshops.

 

The target audience includes those with an interest in education, youth and community work, policy, research, business and enterprise. Registration for the event comes at a grant-subsidised fee of £90 for full registration or £50 for day registration. Topics for discussion include: how and if we should design education to be more about character attributes and values; how to involve and empower children, young people, parents and communities in character and values development; how education and youth work can collaborate on character education; the relationship between ‘soft’ skills, attitudes and attributes for work and enterprise; and an exploration of possibilities with regard to the assessment and recognition of character attributes and values.

 

The ambition of the conference organisers is to have representation at the event from as many Local Authority areas in Scotland as possible and they would therefore very much appreciate your support in sharing details of the event. Please encourage your colleagues to attend by forwarding this email along with the attached brochure, directing them to www.character.scot/conference for further details and online registration. Any questions can be directed to gary.walsh@character-scotland.org.uk.

Secondary, Social Studies, Technologies

My Journey to 2025 – S1 to S6 competition to imagine the world in a decade

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A competition for young people to consider your world in a decade – and what you might be doing in it. The aim is to consider your journey – whatever ‘pathway’ you might follow – and how education, training and your wider experience will help you in realising this ambition.

https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/download/my-2025-0

We are asking you to be creative – allowing for written essays, blogs, You Tube-style videos, music, drama or visual art submissions. This collection of voices will provide a powerful insight into how you and other young people are viewing your experience within the changed educational landscape.

We want to know:

 

  • Where do you see yourself in 2025?
  • How will you be contributing to a successful Scotland? Or do you see yourself further afield?
  • How do you see your learner journey, training and wider experiences getting you there?
  • How could education or opportunities best support you in realising such ambition?
  • How might the choices you make now affect your future?

 

When it comes to submissions there are no specific rules, you can be as imaginative as you want:

  • A blog/vlog
  • You Tube videos
  • Piece of writing
  • Art work (Just photo your piece(s) of work to share electronically)
  • You can work alone or in a team

To name but a few, all ideas are welcome!

 

There will be two categories:

  • S1 to S3
  • S4 to S6

 

Deadline for submissions is 1 July 2015.

 

We have provided a poster for you to use and more information can be found on our website at www.heacademy.ac.uk/My2025. If you require anything further please contact HEAScotland@heacademy.ac.uk

Additional Support for Learning, Colleges, Dance, Early Learning, Primary, Secondary, THIS IS A TEST

YDance – range of CPD opportunities

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  • DANCE FOR CORE PE
  • NATIONAL 5 DANCE
  • NATIONAL PROGRESSION AWARD IN DANCE (SCQF Level 4)
  • HIGHER DANCE
  • INCLUSIVE DANCE PRACTICE DAY
  • DANCE FOR NURSERY EDUCATION

 

DANCE FOR CORE PE

With a focus on Contemporary and Streetdance styles learn how to warm up your pupils, play creative dance games, teach a simple sequence, develop a sequence, use stimulus to create dance material and encourage the participants to develop their confidence, creativity and co-operation skills. These sessions also address some of the CfE Health and Wellbeing outcomes.

Friday 29 May, 9.30am to 4pm at Mad Studios – £85 (Look out for our special discount codes or recommend a friend)

 

NATIONAL 5 DANCE

This SQA qualification requires students to study 2 different dance styles and choreography to achieve this national qualification. Choose from the options listed below to build your own National 5 Dance course:

Contemporary – Mon 11 May Jazz – Tue 12 May Hip-hop – Wed 13 May Choreography – Thu 14 May

Individual Costs – £85

YDance National 5 Package – £285

(includes 2 dance style days, the Choreography day and a copy of the Choreographic DVD resource)

Each of these sessions take place at Mad Studios from 9.30am to 4pm (Mad Studios, 13 Main Street, Coatbridge, ML5 3AJ)

NATIONAL PROGRESSION AWARD IN DANCE (SCQF Level 4)

This SQA qualification requires students to study 2 different dance styles and choreography to achieve the award. Choose from the options listed below to build your own NPA Dance course:

Contemporary – Tue 5 May Jazz – Wed 6 May Choreography – Thu 7 May Classical (Ballet) – Fri 8 May Alternative (Hip-hop) – Fri 15 May

Individual Costs – £85

YDance NPA Package – £225

(includes 2 dance style days and the Choreography day)

Each of these sessions takes place at Mad Studios from 9.30am to 4pm

HIGHER DANCE

This SQA qualification requires students to study 2 contrasting dance styles and choreography to achieve this national qualification. Choose from the options listed below to build your own Higher Dance course.

Contemporary – Mon 18 May + Wed 20 May (am) Jazz – Tue 19 May + Wed 20 May (pm) Hip-hop – Tue 26 May + Wed 27 May (am) Choreography – Thu 21 May + Fri 22 May

Individual Costs – £85

YDance Higher Dance Package – £450

(This includes 2 dance style courses (1.5 days each), the 2 day Choreography course and a copy of the Choreographic DVD resource)

One and a half days are allocated to each style to allow time for technique class, exploration of sequences and support to develop a centre set performance solo, meeting the outcomes set out in the Higher Dance Performance unit. Two days are allocated for Choreography to cover the Higher Dance Practice Activity Assessment requirements and to demonstrate the progression through the learning outcomes.

All sessions take place at Mad Studios 13 Main Street, Coatbridge, ML5 3AJ

INCLUSIVE DANCE PRACTICE DAY

Develop your teaching skills for delivering dance with children and young people with additional support needs in this one day course:

  1. Methods of inclusive practice
  2. Creative ideas for pupils with and without additional support needs
  3. Planning & structuring a lesson plan / creative workshop

Wednesday 29 April, 9.30am to 3.30pm – £85 (Look out for our discounts or recommend a friend for 10% off)

 

DANCE FOR NURSERY EDUCATION

Develop your teaching skills for delivering dance with early years children:

  1. Creative ideas for dance classes inspired by stories and topics
  2. Planning and structuring a lesson plan / creative workshop
  3. Using props and music

Thursday 28 May, 9.30am to 3.30pm – £85 (Look out for our discounts or recommend a friend and receive 10% off)