School Projects

'School Projects' means projects where the process is far

more important than the product - indeed, there may not even

be a product.

An example of thismight be, for instance, the work we have both done - and continue to do - through Creative Partnerships. If you don't know about CP, do look on their website - it's fascinating stuff, and in the new structure there is the opportunity for all schools to be involved. Follow the link to their website -

We have both worked on creative learning projects in Early Years settings - the basic idea for the work was to look at some philosophies for EY (for instance Reggio) and see if we could work with staff to devise our own philosophy for the particular setting, based on a child led approach with an emphasis on creativity. One of the most interesting things has been persuading staff that there is no need for them to be artistic, nor need they be creative - they simply have to recognise it in the children then find ways of enhancing and developing it (which in itself is a creative process.... so they are creative after all...ha ha!)

The last few years of Pete's work has been developing programmes for kinaesthetic learners - and these have been very successful in raising awareness in staff that Craig and Nathan are not naughty boys, and usually produce the most interesting, concentrated work in a kinaesthetic session.

My focus the last few years has been carrying on the work from an EY setting into the feeder Primary school - this has been very interesting and has helped staff to see that they can be much more free with their planning and give the children much more choice without them either running amok or not achieving.

Peter Abbs said that ‘Learning may be released by the teacher but it can never be conferred’ (Peter Abbs 2003), and we try to help staff to see this.

'It is amazing how much can be taught when subject boundaries are taken away ' says Professor Helen Storey - and in our projects we try to include a conscious cross-curricula approach - storytelling might include maths, an energy project might include dance/drama

And Oscar Wilde said 'A grapefruit is a lemon that had a chance and took advantage of it ' - in our school projects we try to show everyone 'the chance' - it's up to them to take it