Category Archives: Local Authorities

Dance, Glasgow, Health and Wellbeing, Physical Education

100 pupil flashmob in Central Station marks Youth Olympics hopes

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On 13 February, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) shortlisted Glasgow in the race to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG), praising the city’s record of hosting international sporting events including the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The 2018 YOG Working Group report stated that Glasgow’s Bid would also build on the success of the London 2012 Olympic Games creating a powerful and impactful YOG, appealing to athletes and young people across the globe, while representing minimal risk to the IOC.

Glasgow will join two other cities on the shortlist for the next stage of the process which will see IOC members vote for the winning Candidate City in July.

More than 100 young people from Denny High School gathered in Central Station, the city’s main rail terminal, for a contemporary dance flashmob to celebrate the news, calling on the UK public to back the Bid to bring the 2018 YOG to Glasgow. The celebration event reflected the passion for sport the Olympic family can expect if the Games come to Glasgow.

http://www.glasgow2018.com/media-centre/latest-press-release/

Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Science

Funding for science programme

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The Scottish Government has announced that a national programme of science events and exhibitions will take place across the country to celebrate the Year of Natural Scotland. The activity will take place in Scotland’s four science centres in 2013.

Full programme details are still to be announced but highlights are set to include:
·         A series of community and school events celebrating sustainable living and new technologies at Dundee Science Centre.
·         A festival focusing on sustainable science at Glasgow Science Centre, with hands-on workshops and ‘meet the expert’ sessions.
·         Workshops and exhibitions at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh celebrating the beauty of Scotland’s natural environment.
·         A ‘Green Energy Discovery Weekend’ and a symposium for primary pupils at Aberdeen’s Satrosphere Science Centre.

To find out more, click here

Edinburgh, Events

A Richer Understanding of Article 31 – Children’s right to culture, leisure and play

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Thursday 28 March 2013

Our Dynamic Earth

Edinburgh

(9.15 Registration; 10 am—3.30 pm)

A one day conference presented by IPA Scotland in partnership with Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People; with support from Creative Scotland.

The conference aims to celebrate and raise awareness of the adoption of the UN General Comment on article 31: children’s right to culture, leisure and play and to explore how policy-makers and practitioners can make the expectations of the UN General Comment a reality in Scotland.

The day will provide opportunities for individuals and organisations from the fields of culture, arts, leisure, play, and human rights to come together and explore how best to work collaboratively to ensure that all children in Scotland have the best opportunities to access culture, leisure and play.

Download the event programme and booking form here:

A Richer Understanding of Article 31 Conference March 2013 Brochure

Artists, Glasgow

2014 Residency Commissions

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Two residency commissions are being offered by Glasgow Life covering the period March 2013 to April 2015. The broad purpose is to consider the arts and culture’s contribution to the city and capture its impact in the context of this very particular moment in the city’s history, during the build up to, hosting and legacy of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Applications are sought from individuals working in any media that is capable of capturing and documenting a portrait of the city in the context described above. E.g. visual art, photography, writing, film making, digital media.

The fee available for each residency is £15,000.  The deadline for receipt of applications is Friday 1st March 2013.

Please go to www.glasgowlife.org.uk/arts to download an application form and guidelines.

For further information please contact the Grants Officer on 0141 287 9837

CPD, Dance, Dundee

SKILL UP 2013 – Scotland’s annual training conference for professionals who use drama and theatre in their work with young people

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SKILL UP 2013
Dundee Rep Theatre, Dundee
20-21 April 2013

SKILL UP is an annual training and networking conference for professionals who use drama and theatre in their work with young people.

Produced by Promote YT in partnership with Dundee Rep Theatre, SKILL UP 2013 presents a programme of high quality training and facilitation delivered by leading practitioners including – Company of Angels, Frantic Assembly, National Association of Youth Drama (Ireland), Scottish Youth Theatre, Adam Smith College, Dundee Rep Theatre, Fife Youth Theatre and more.

To find out more about the event and how to book your place, visit www.promoteyt.co.uk/events/skillup

CLN News, CPD, West Lothian

West Lothian schools explore creativity in learning and in curriculum design

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Terrifyingly Exciting

West Lothian’s Creative Learning Network

Friday 15th March from 1.30pm at Howden Park Centre

What would happen if learning started with a question that was tricky to answer conclusively?

Imagine it started with the unknown, a world where nothing is fixed until it is chosen to be contained, an adventure that has not yet been lived?

Over the past 7 months teams of brave and imaginative learning cohorts from 4 secondary schools in West Lothian have been working with Paul Gorman from Visible Fictions Theatre Company to explore the fabric of creative learning.  These collectives comprise of teachers, pupils and artists.  By working together they have begun to unpick some of the barriers, perceived or real, that schools face when attempting to establish a creative vision.

This symposium will offer an insight in the schools’ journeys to better understand the benefits of a creative approach to curriculum design.  Over the course of an afternoon you will discover what Bathgate would look like if it became independent from Scotland, understand how the Scottish Government of the year 2050 deals with the hurricane season and be moved by the plight of a Zebra desperately searching for its soul.  Welcome to Creative Learning – West Lothian style.

Please come along and join us on Friday 15th March from 1.30pm at Howden Park Centre, Livingston to hear what has been learnt by the schools participating in this years Creative Learning Network project in West Lothian.

This initiative aims to champion creativity across learning and teaching in schools and communities within the overarching context of Curriculum for Excellence, bringing long-term benefits to learners.

To book your place please contact Fiona Macfarlane, Arts Officer (Learning) either by email: fiona.macfarlane2@westlothian.gov.uk or call 01506 773873 by Friday 8th March.

The Creative Learning Networks Fund is managed by Education Scotland, in partnership with Creative Scotland to support the development of Creative Learning Networks (CLNs) in local authority areas across Scotland.

Clackmannanshire, CLN News, CPD, Falkirk, Stirling

Forth Valley Creative Conversations Programme announced

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You are invited to the Forth Valley Creative Learning Creative Conversations programme.

Thursday 7th March | 4.30pm – 6.30pm | Stirling University:

What is Creative Learning? Keir Bloomer

Keir Bloomer will explore two distinct but linked ways of answering the question what is creative learning? Is it about approaches to learning that are creative?  In other words, is it the creativity of the teacher that is most important?  Alternatively, is the aim to develop the creativity of the learner?  He will consider the connections between these ideas and the principles of constructivist pedagogy – the idea that making meaning is the central intellectual task in learning.

For further details and to book tickets click here: Keir Bloomer Poster

Wednesday 17th April | 4.30pm – 6.30pm | Tolbooth, Stirling:

How do we Capture and Measure Creativity? Paul Collard, Chief Executive, Creativity, Culture, Education

Increasing attention is being given to developing the creativity of children and young people. From Japan to Chile, within Europe and across the US this has become a major preoccupation of educators. But how do you know what creativity looks like, and can you tell if it is being developed?  To support their work CCE commissioned extensive research into the definition and measurement of creativity and trialled numerous approaches in schools. In this presentation Paul Collard will provide a constructive and practical guide to identifying creativity in the classroom to enable teachers and creative practitioners to inspire children and young people.

For further details and to book tickets click here: Paul Collard Leaflet


Forth Valley Creative Learning is a new collaboration between Education in Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire, creating together opportunities to explore creativity and creative learning

To find out more about Forth Valley Creative Learning visit: www.forthvalleycreativelearning.wordpress.com

CLN News, Scottish Borders

Scottish Borders Cultural Ambassador wins GTCS Professional Recognition Award for Creative Learning

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Sarah Gulliver-Goodal, Cultural Ambassador for Scottish Borders CLN, was recently awarded the GTCS professional recognition award for Creative Learning. Here she writes about the process of applying for professional recognition and what the award means to her.

“Going for Professional Recognition in Creativity was a huge decision and a long term personal commitment. The first step was very deliberately looking at my own practice and my place within school by evaluating and reflecting on my work. I felt able to go ahead once I was based in one primary school rather than travelling between schools, even though I do have three distinct roles within the school: Art CST, Nursery Teacher and PT cover teaching in P1.

Art and creativity within the primary school is very important to me and I wanted to be part of a change that would see creativity/ arts being a key aspect of learning across the curriculum at every stage. Professional recognition for me included cpd training, professional reading, gallery visits and leading a whole school creative arts project over 12 months which culminated in an exhibition in our local town hall. I benefitted from networking with visual artists, sculptors, sound artists and other professionals working in the Heritage Hub, in SBC planning and at Historic Scotland. Following the project work and the public exhibition the children are much more aware of their own creativity and they have more confidence in the quality of their own work. Staff readily use my expertise both within formal art sessions and informally as a resource for practical help.

Using reflection and evaluation of my work at each stage of the project has benefitted me as an individual and as a teacher. My planning and assessments are more focused now, I’m more aware of actively involving pupils in their learning and of working with pupils in new ways.

Professional recognition has been a very valuable learning tool for me not just a one-off cpd session but a way of working from now on.

The certificate presentation ceremony hosted by the GTCS at the Scottish Parliament was inspirational in itself and it was lovely to be supported in this by my Head Teacher, Maggie Norman. I love my work and get a lot of personal satisfaction back from the extra effort; it felt really good to receive recognition.”

Sarah Gulliver-Goodall

Cultural Ambassador, Scottish Borders Creative Learning Network

To read Scottish Borders CLN blog click here

CLN News, Dumfries and Galloway

Creativity Matters Dumfries & Galloway

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In 2012-2013, the Creative Learning Network in Dumfries and Galloway is aiming to promote and sustain creative approaches to learning and teaching through a series of seminars which we are calling Creativity Matters. The aim of the seminars is to demonstrate the practical application of creativity within a learning and teaching context examining amongst other things – why creativity is a crucial skill for 21st century life. Guest speakers are invited to give their professional and contextualised views, thoughts and in some cases research findings on creativity drawing from their individual fields of expertise.

Our most recent seminar was held in Gatehouse on the 12th February as part of the in-service day, and we had the pleasure of hearing from OBE Paul Smith chair of the trustees for Creativity, Culture and Education www.cceengland.org and Alan McLean http://www.themotivatedschool.co.uk/alanMcLean.html author the Motivated school and Motivating every learner with another book in the pipeline.

Paul gave the seminar a strong flavour of creative and cultural systems and policy from his work with Creativity, Culture and Education and how to build on a creative generation, examining with us the conditions for creative and cultural education. One thing that will stay with me from the conversation was the point about working to create the demand rather than perpetuate the supply of opportunities, something that we as advocates of creative and cultural learning will strive to develop.

The theme of Alan’s presentation was creativity and wellbeing and wellbeing and creativity, with a dissection of autonomy and how the differing needs and abilities of learners can fuel and contribute towards creative participation. He had us all thinking rather deeply about learner’s needs and the Powers of Creative Participation and their relationship to the four capacities.

Also on the 12th February, we were very fortunate to have Janice Kirkpatrick Creative Director of Graven Images http://www.graven.co.uk/ at Troqueer primary school in Dumfries talking to primary and secondary Art & Design specialists. Janice shared her creative process and practice in relation to the work of Graven and re-enforced key messages about adaptive skills and resilience across a variety of platforms. Janice also exemplified how her company has grown and developed as a flexible model of how to work across the disciplines. It was ideal for the creative learning network to have someone like Janice who is actually from the region and attended primary and secondary school in Dumfries – what inspiration!

Speaker biog Janice Kirkpatrick Speaker biog OBE Paul Roberts Speaker biog Alan Mclean

You may also be interested to know that we asked participants to complete a learning from experience exit card, and to note what the event has inspired them to do… I will be following up the inspiration in the summer term, and will provide an update as to how things are progressing…

example of exit pass

Lesley