These partnerships inspire young people, teachers and creative professionals to challenge how they work and experiment with new ideas. Young people develop the skills they need to perform well not only in exams and extra-curricular activities, but also in the workplace and wider society.

 

As raising standards is a continuing focus within our school, we endeavour to find new ways to make the curriculum relevant, accessible, exciting and above all, purposeful for our children. Working with Creative Partnerships as a Change School allowed us to enter into a creative process which will help challenge the way in which we approach teaching.

 

The Project

We embarked on a 6 week project using Mantle of the Expert, a way of teaching ‘in role’, as the basis for our creative approach. During this time we hoped to make the curriculum and in particular writing a dynamic and exciting process for all our children from Nursery to Year 4.

 

The concept of the project was encompassing. It fundamentally changed how we work as teachers and how our children learn.

 

Bedlington Station First School ceased to exist in its usual form for the duration of the project. Instead the children came to ‘work’ at a TV studio. Their challenge was to create a TV show called ‘Portal’, a show that can literally go anywhere, find out about anything, and include everyone. Drama, sci-fi, documentary, music, cartoons, soap operas, travel and many more genres were open to development.

 

The children, working in their studio and supported by creative practitioners including; writers, set designers, musicians, artists and film makers, moved through the process of development for example; story writing, script writing, story boarding, model making, planning, design, and performance. Enterprise skills featured heavily with children working collaboratively, presenting ideas, marketing their product, budgeting for it, making decisions and being responsible for their own actions.

 

Our school became ‘Station Studios’ with each classroom changing into a studio. The studios looked very different from school with a physical change taking place. When the children returned after this change they came to ‘work’. Station Studios was equipped with Work Studios, a Film Studio, Research and Media Room and Staff Room,

 

How it worked

The children were ‘in role’ whenever they wore their special ‘Studio ID badge’. They registered themselves each morning and afternoon by taking their ID badge and wearing it and because the children were playing the part of studio workers they did not wear a school uniform.

 

Station Studios had a comprehensive ‘Work/Life balance’ programme, which included dance classes, keep fit and pool competitions as well as a luxury staffroom for relaxation.

 

Studio staff managed their own timings for breaks and deadlines. Breaks could be taken at any time and staff learned to ensure they were in the staffroom for the appropriate time. No staff took advantage to this responsibility.

 

Studio staff accessed their own studio email accounts to retrieve emails from other studios, the CEO and Human Resources. The CEO emailed about a number of issues including deadlines, updates, problems and meetings. Human Resources contacted staff about vacancies. Station studios had a team of Tour Guides and Eco Officers who applied for the positions and were successful at interview.

 

Maintaining motivation

Staff had to work to strict deadlines due to filming commitments and produced each episode of PORTAL in 1 week. Staff independently selected the appropriate resources they needed including the use of the research suite and media room.

Station Studios faced many problems during the filming of PORTAL, including a scandalous accusation in a national newspaper that Station Studios had stolen the ideas for their shows from a rival studio. Staff rallied around to write very persuasive letters to the Chief Executive at Ofcom to refute the claims. Their letters were successful and the rival studio was forced to apologise.

 

Whole studio staff meetings were a time to reflect on the previous week as well as look ahead. Staff spoke to the whole studio about their week and what had went well and what they were hoping would happen next. This was also a time for celebration with ‘Employees of the Week’ and ‘Studio of the Week’ being named.

Evaluation

In order to support the raising of standards in writing and to begin the evolution of our curriculum we used the creative partnership process to ask the question ‘How do we work alongside creative practitioners to develop sustainable creative models of good practice which support literacy across the curriculum?’

 

During our time as Station Studios the ‘staff’ (adults and children) worked with creative practitioners on many aspects of the project. The hope was that this exposure to creative experts, teamed with showing the children a clear purpose for all the work they are doing across the curriculum would have a positive impact on how the children engage with the curriculum.

 

Through this we have begun to develop ways of working with children that will better meet their needs and give them a clear understanding of what they are learning and why they are learning it.

 

Practitioners

We had a number of creative practitioners working in Station Studios.

 

Musician Rob Kitchen worked with each studio on music production. Teams composed theme tunes, jingles and sound effects as well as writing lyrics. Staff had a first hand opportunity to make decisions about the music that they wanted for their programmes.

 

Writers Sheree Mack and Stuart Wheatman worked with the children to develop their ideas, create pitches, refine storyboards and write scripts.

 

Set Designers Helen Law and Sam McGeever worked with staff to develop the heart of our new programme...the ‘PORTAL’. Staff generated ideas in sessions with Helen and Sam and then worked together to create our stunning centrepiece.

Creative Designer Rose Furlonger worked with Studios W and A (Foundation Stage) to create masks and puppets. ‘Staff’ generated ideas and Rose helped them to realise these ideas. These masks and puppets were then used in their programmes.

 

Magnus Dennison and Katja Roberts from Meerkat films worked with Station Studios to produce the ‘Portal’ programmes. Each week they spent a day with our staff filming our programmes. They supported our staff who took the role of the film crew. Station Studios staff worked as camera operators, sound technicians, directors, floor managers, as well as actors and presenters. When the filming was completed Magnus returned to work with our editing teams to polish the final show.

Staff Comments 

“Working in this way has really allowed our children to become part of something. The communal role has instilled in the children a sense of responsibility, independence and above all purpose. This is what education should be about. Finding ways to make the curriculum and Key Skills of importance to our children.

 

Give them a reason for doing it beyond ‘because we have to’ and they will rise to the challenge. Being able to see clearly how the skills and knowledge they are learning fit into the bigger picture is like a light bulb bursting to life. It is amazing to see children growing and developing into responsible, sensible, driven young people.

 

Station Studios has worked on many levels. It has presented the curriculum in an exciting and interesting way; it has allowed all children to be part of something bigger than themselves; it has motivated all children to succeed , while also giving opportunities for children to exceed expectations.

 

All our children deserve to have the chance to reach their full potential in whatever way that may be. We have a duty to make sure this happens. In more and more cases that means thinking outside the box. At Bedlington Station First school we just jumped out of it!

 

Andrew Layton, Deputy Head Teacher

 “Changing our school into a different environment (TV Studio) has definitely had a very positive impact on the children’s learning and their attitude to learning. I have particularly noticed a great improvement in the children’s independence, for example solving issues, meeting deadlines etc in teams and being responsible for time keeping. It has been fantastic to see the children applying the skills they have been taught, to new tasks, for example ICT skills and knowledge. As a teacher it has been extremely rewarding to observe the children rising to this ‘real life’ experience.”

Vikki Tuart—Year 2 Teacher

 

“It has been great to see the impact that 'Station Studios' has had on the children's learning.  The children have been engaged, enthusiastic and more involved in their work throughout the project.  I feel that this is because the children have been able to see a purpose to every piece of work, for example, solving maths problems to ensure that everyone gets paid the correct wages!  This has been a great experience for all involved.”

                                                                                                         Ruth Henderson, Year 1 Teacher

Parent Comments

“Robbie doesn't come to school anymore...it’s work. He feels very important in his role, even when he is playing with his sister, when tidying up, it’s all around ‘team work’. He is loving every moment.”

 

“Daisy is enjoying work at Station Studios. When she comes home she is very enthusiastic about her day at work. It all seems very interesting and is making her more confident and independent. In the play-ground all the children seem happy and are very chatty. This way of teaching seems to be making the pupils more grown-up and confident.”

 

“I think this is a great idea as it gives the children an insight into what they might like to do in the future. It promotes life skills and gives the children an opportunity to apply them”

 

“It’s great to see the school using a different approach to learning. The enthusiasm of the teaching staff is obvious to see, and our family certainly appreciates all the hard work.”

 

Child Comments

“It’s really good, it gives you more responsibility. You learn to be responsible about your time, like when you are working to a deadline. It’s a better way of learning, you still learn the same sort of stuff but its more fun and more active.” Emily, Year 4

 

“I think it is really good working in the studio, it’s much better than school . You still learn to read and write  but you do it by writing shows and doing budgets. It’s just great.” Connor, Year 2

 

“I really like it because you learn useful things.  I have learned lots using ICT especially on the mini-laptops.  It’s a much better way to work.”  Toni, Year 4

 

“I think it’s really great working in the studio, it’s much better than the classroom. You learn the same things but you get to learn new stuff as well. I want it to stay like this forever” Brandon, Year 3

 

“ We learn about things we enjoy. I like working with people I wouldn't normally work with” Abbie, Year 3

 

“I like work better than school” Rhys, Year 1

Visitor Comments

“This is a really wonderful new approach to teaching and learning. I am particularly impressed by the way everybody is engaged in the project. The work produced is of a really high quality. Well done to all!”

Trevor Doughty -  Executive Director of Children’s Services, Northumberland

 

“How impressive! I have thoroughly enjoyed my visit. There is such a calm, purposeful atmosphere pervading the whole school. I am really interested in how you will develop this further. Well done!”

Robin Casson - Director of Schools and Family Support, Northumberland

 

“Excellent tour guides, I was really impressed by the hard work of all the ‘staff’ in the studios. I am really looking forward to how it all comes together for the DVD, Well done to you all.”

Tony Mays - Head of School Improvement, Northumberland

 

“Well done everyone! The atmosphere in the school was calm and purposeful. The children were confident and articulate when describing their work. The quality of learning was fabulous. It just shows that taking a risk can pay dividends!”

Brenda Poxton, Deputy Head, Whitley Memorial First School, Northumberland