Tag Archives: creativity

Reminder of Tesco Bank Art Competition for Schools 2013 (formerly National Galleries of Scotland Art Competition for Schools)

There are six categories, each with a different theme:
Category A Nursery: Let’s Play!
Category B Primary 1-3: Dog
Category C Primary 4-7: Scary Creatures and Creepy Things
Category D S1-S2: See It, Frame It, Draw It
Category E Special Education Schools: Water, Water Everywhere
Category F Group Entries: Any of the above themes

Pupils are asked to view a small selection of artworks online. Teaching notes and lots of discussion ideas are provided with links made to Curriculum for Excellence. Suitably inspired, everyone can then make their own artwork.

Closing date: Friday 3 May 2013.

An award ceremony will be held at the Scottish National Gallery on Friday 14 June 2013 with prizes for individuals, classes and school art departments. The 53 winning works will be on public display at the National Galleries of Scotland from June and will then travel to others venues in Scotland until May 2014.

For full details of prizes and how to enter go to www.nationalgalleries.org/schoolartcompetition

Red Kite animation competition – deadline 19 April

Budding animators are invited to submit short animated films of 1-3 minutes, based upon either a real or imagined backstory to an object of their choice, housed in one of Edinburgh Museums & Galleries, including the Museums Store. Check www.edinburghmuseums.org and below for details of venues.

Submissions in the following three competition categories are invited:

Primary Schools; Secondary Schools; and Youth 18-24 years/ Current Students of any age.

Deadline: 19th April 2013 at 5pm. Entries are free.

Submit your film to: competition@redkiteworkshops.co.uk

More Information: http://www.redkiteworkshops.co.uk/

Painting Award opportunity for senior phase students

The Jolomo Schools Painting Award sponsored by Bank of Scotland will be run for the first time in school year 2012/13.

Students from the senior phase at all Scottish secondary schools are invited to take part in the inaugural schools painting award.  Students are asked to paint and submit their interpretation of the Scottish landscape.

The winner will receive £500, with an additional £500 going to the winning school’s Art Department.  The winner will also have the opportunity to be mentored by the artist John Lowrie Morrison  (Jolomo).

More information can be found by clicking on ‘HOW TO ENTER’ on the home page of The Jolomo Foundation website.  www.jolomofoundation.org

The deadline for submissions is 28 March 2013

Call for Scottish games design entries for the Kodu Kup 2013

‘If you are interested in game design then a good place to start is with a free application called Kodu. This is a visual programming language and games lab environment which allows students from Second Level upwards to design and build three dimensional games using either a PC or an XBox and XBox controller…’

To find out more about this competition for learners aged 7-14 years, plus support materials available, click here.

Deadline for entries is May 2013

West Lothian schools explore creativity in learning and in curriculum design

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.

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

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

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Poster Competition

The search for the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Poster has begun!

The Fringe Schools Poster Competition is open to all Scottish students aged 5 – 16. They are looking for a unique and eye-catching poster design that represents the variety and vibrancy of the Fringe.

Learning resources, including lesson plans linked to CfE experiences and outcomes, are available for teachers to introduce pupils to the Fringe and inspire them to create winning posters.

The winning design will become the official poster for the 2013 Fringe and there are prizes of up to £750 for the top three artists and their schools. Pupils could also be in with the chance of seeing their artwork displayed in an exhibition.

To get started, for details of how to enter, and to download the entry pack and learning resources, visit www.edfringe.com/poster.