Creative learning through the arts
—an action plan for Wales

Go and See: Pembrey Primary School, Tudor Tales, Carew Castle

28 learners in Years 3 and 4 from Pembrey Primary School visited Carew Castel for the ultimate Tudor experience. Pupils dressed up in Tudor costumes to go on the visit and were met by Carew Castle staff, also in costume.

Throughout the day, the learners participated in various workshops which immersed them in the experience of working in a Tudor castle. Hands-on creative experiences saw the learners making bread and pottage (stew) in the castle kitchen, using clay to make a Tudor tile and Tudor rose, creating Tudor artwork with quills and building a castle wall. Children also enjoyed exploring the grounds of the castle, visiting the tidal mill and the dungeons.

On returning to school, the children made Tudor shields, performed Tudor dances, had a Tudor banquet of pottage and mead, created 3D Tudor homes and made a Tudor castle from Lego.Teachers reported that the pupils’ historical knowledge was vastly improved and activities in the castle and back in school improved their art, music and DT work. The activities also improved the pupils creative writing and poetry skills.

"Tudor Tales immersed the children in life in a Tudor castle. First-hand experiences like this one bring history to life and gives the pupils a far greater understanding of what life was like during those times."
—Teacher, Pembrey Primary School

Go and See: Llyfr Glas Nebo, Cwmni Frân Wen and Galeri

Llyfr Glas Nebo, presented by Frân Wen and Galeri, sees Manon Steffan Ros’ beautifully harrowing novel adapted for stage by the award-winning author herself. As the dust settles after a nuclear apocalypse, Rowenna and her children, Siôn and Dwynwen, are facing a world where signs of life are quickly disappearing. Their story is recorded in a little blue book as the family tries to survive an incident that has a devastating effect on the inhabitants of the village of Nebo and beyond.

During February and March, 250 learners from seven schools across Wales used the Go and See fund in order to attend the production at Theatr Felinfach, Lyric Theatre, Pontardawe Arts Centre and Sherman Theatre. Schools applying to the fund applied to cover the cost of tickets and/or transport with 10% match funding coming from the school or parental contributions.

Teachers reported that the performance was a very rewarding and valuable experience as the book was a new text on the GCSE literature course. The performance helped pupils to understand the text and offered the opportunity for a piece of coursework based on the performance, comparing the script to the original text. GCSE Drama pupils were also able to use the performance to support their studies and the themes of the play allowed for interesting discussion topics back in the classroom. 

Many schools identified that the Welsh-language production strengthened the pupils' awareness of Welsh culture and the wider use of Welsh outside classroom.

Here are some of the learners’ comments:

“It was a great experience to see a play at Theatr Felinfach. The actors were really great and they brought the novel to life for the audience. I thought Tara Bethan, who played Rowenna, was amazing. The use of the puppets was also effective in introducing Dwynwen and the hare. By the end, I had forgotten they were puppets!
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“An exciting theatrical experience, with the use of the puppets being a very effective device. It gave me ideas of new possibilities when creating theatre work”‍

Schools that used the Go and See fund to support the visit:
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Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern
Ysgol Gyfun Aberaeron (Gyfun Aberaeron Comprehensive)
Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr
Ysgol Bro Teifi
Ysgol Gyfun Emlyn
Ysgol Maes y Gwendraeth
Ysgol Henry Richard

Creative Collaborations: Recycled Ocean

Heronsbridge School collaborated with Anwen Cultural Trust on a Creative Collaborations project entitled Recycled Ocean.

The project began with several visits to Bridgend library where the learners use the ICT facilities to research facts relating to plastic pollution. The pupils also selected books related to the topic to take back to school for further research.

Throughout the project learners participated in various activities including: drawing workshops in response to ocean related stories; creating sea creature sculptures from plastic collected during a litter-pick at a local beach; mono-printing sea creature prints. The sensory learning groups took part in activities such as making Ocean bottles and Ocean sticks. The work produced throughout the project was put on display at an exhibition in the library.

The collaboration was successful at bringing together the school and Bridgend library. Many students had not visited the library before and were unaware of the facilities on offer. The pupils looked forward to visiting the library and the older pupils enjoyed borrowing books. The library relished the excitement and enthusiasm brought by the students. They were thrilled to invite young people who wouldn't usually use the facilities into their space and enjoyed witnessing the creative buzz during the art workshops.
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The art workshops helped pupils to develop team working skills and promoted a sense of community within the school with all pupils working towards the final exhibition, together with the staff and artists. The pupils benefited from learning new skills from the artists, developing motor skills, creativity and confidence. New skills taught will be used by teachers in the art department in the future. Techniques such as printing and Shibori will be developed as part of future schemes of work. 
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These comments were left in the visitors book at the exhibition:

"Stunned and enthralled! Can't believe the creativity that is on display in the library. I am inspired and will be stealing these incredible ideas for my own primary school class."
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"What beautiful creations. Walking around the library was like wandering through a magical land. Bendigedig!"
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"A fantastic display. Amazing work by the children and all for the right reasons. Video and photography are a wonderful memory for the kids."‍

Blackwood Primary School, War and Peace

Blackwood Primary School applied for an Innovation Seed grant of £1,000 from the Regional Arts and Education Network: South East Wales after finding out about the fund at the Network’s Make it Digital workshop. With support from the Network staff, the school designed a project that would bring together a number of artists, and two cultural organisations to explore the creative process of the pupils through expressive arts activities over a term, under the theme War and Peace. 

The school invited one of the Make it Digital workshop leaders, Naz Syed into the school to work with two teachers for three days on the theme of War and Peace; using the objects and stories from a First World War handling collection, Exhibition in a Box, a free resource developed by Head4Arts.

The learners responded positively to the object-based learning afforded to them by the portable multi-sensory resource that explored the theme of silence in connection to the First World War.

“It was more interesting to have the physical object than to read about it, because you can use more senses and it's more fun.”

Together with the artist and teachers, the learners explored the effect of war on Blackwood, particularly how the two world wars affected life in the community: with learners engaging their families about their wartime experiences through interviews and personal object exploration.

To extend the scope of the project the school received further funding from Literature Wales and Caerphilly Arts Development. Working with writer Simone Greenwood of Burst Publishing to produce stories and poems with the learners to collectively create a book War and Peace: remembering life in our community, published by Burst.

The Arts and Education Network brokered a relationship with Blackwood Miners Institute who hosted a week-long public exhibition of their work during January 2020, and a launch event for families of the pupils. The learners developed presentations of their own research and art process and were able to speak confidently with visitors at the opening of the exhibition to present their handmade books containing collages, drawings and written stories, inspired by the objects and their project work that had spanned a whole school term.

The two teachers leading this project have shared their experience with colleagues and have been able to purchase resources to continue to work in this way. The lead teacher has maintained her contact with the artist.

"We’ve never had such success…the outcome has been one of the best we’ve ever seen."

"The children are more creative and more independent"

"One child who has behavioural difficulties got really inspired by the death coins and made his own. The local vicar told me that he had talked with him about the death coins and learned so much from him."

Ysgol Parc Y Bont

Ysgol Parc Y Bont, Anglesey, participated in the Lead Creative School Scheme online project during lockdown. Having already witnessed the positive impact creative teaching and learning had on pupils' attitudes to learning and their independence during Round 3, the designated teacher, who was new to the scheme, was keen to explore creative learning at a deeper level.

The project focused on the school's Development Priorities of Literacy, Digital Competence, and the dissemination of good creative teaching practice with the creative habits being a central to the work. Learners from Year 3 and 4 were identified as the group to participate in the project.

Well-being and pupil voice were an integral backdrop to the project. From the outset, pupils completed a questionnaire encouraging them to plan the kind of creative topics the project would prioritise.

Creative tasks implemented throughout the project included changing objects (i.e. a leaf), personalise a tree, creatively reflect on what the future will look like, drama games and a treasure hunt.

Session were delivered supporting Blended learning models through lively films presenting the tasks with worksheets on Google Classroom and live reflection sessions held on Microsoft Teams.

The Creative Habits of Mind were developed through tasks that allowed pupils to work independently or with other members / siblings within the household at any time, sparking their imagination, discipline and persistence. Pupils were given the freedom to record their work in a variety of ways. e.g. through film, pictures, written work or voice recording. This was consciously devised knowing that many parents were working full-time from home and with limited time for their children during the day.

“He loved it! He was really happy afterwards! Gave me peace of mind too, as I was worried about his social interactions after leaving school with just a family, but he was great and enjoyed all the tasks.”
—Parent

"I liked it because I was outside and I got some fresh air."
—Pupil

"It makes your brain work more."
—Pupil

Having the opportunity to host live sessions was noted as enhancing the enjoyment and engagement of bot the learners and their teacher. Pupils' confidence in on-screen communication was increased, with one particular pupil being recorded more confidently than in a similar classroom session.

"My mum thought it was good because I could see other friends and learn different computer skills."

The project gave the teacher confidence to plan other creative projects as part of future classroom themes in order to maintain pupil engagement. It will also support her greatly in preparing for the learners return to school in September.

Newbridge School and Pantside Primary School

Newbridge School were awarded a third year of funding to work in partnership with Pantside Primary school, one of its feeder schools. Alongside their creative agent Jain Boon they explored pupil voice as a vehicle to see if this developed confidence and independence in oracy for year 6 pupils in Pantside. 

Professional storyteller and drama specialist Tamar Williams worked alongside and trained twelve Year 10 pupils from Newbridge to design and deliver fun, purposeful drama sessions with learners from Year 6. Tamar had worked with them the previous year and the Year 10s used the opportunity to fulfil their voluntary work needed for their Welsh Baccalaureate studies. Pantside were keen to target a group of 3 or 4 boys identified as having a 'very fixed mindset' and a small group of girls who were identified as 'not having a voice in class' i.e. what they said was not valued by others.

Several sessions took place, including a session delivered by the Year 10s to Pantside. The sessions focussed on drama games and techniques which require cooperation, collaboration and embracing failure as a learning opportunity for developing, crafting and improving ideas.  Pupil voice was encouraged to generate greater confidence through the sharing of ideas and outcomes, for example through verbal reflection exercises. The encouragement to be imaginative and create narratives was also interweaved. Despite nerves on the part of both sets of pupils the interaction between the two sets of learners was very positive and respectful. The Year 10s were also very supportive of each other and sensitive to how they had to work as a team.

• Year 10 have become more confident in front of an audience in class, for example they are able to share information with minimal preparation time
  
• Year 6 pupils improved their listening to others and their own ideas improved
• All pupils are more ready for learning opportunities and are becoming more creative in their responses, leading to greater engagement especially when planning their own learning.The group of girls in Year 6 who never had the opportunity to speak now relish in group activities sharing ideas and the boys who were loud and overbearing during discussions now play a more efficient role by allowing everyone to speak.
  
• The year 6 class teacher felt a greater confidence to implement the activities in a variety of curriculum areas and how creative learning approaches work in conjunction the school’s wellbeing curriculum.

“The project has also helped to build resilience for our pupils through the activities led by Tamar. I believe this occurred due to pupils having the opportunity to produce work and then go back and add or change parts. Pupils were beginning to naturally seek ways to improve.”