I often get asked about the importance of the Creative Arts and creativity in education. It is widely perceived that these subjects have, nationally, declined in the last ten years. If measured by examination entries that is certainly true.
In our school, the Creative Arts are thriving. This can be seen visibly in our concerts, or school productions or art exhibitions. This is in keeping with our philosophy of students having a choice of options.
Our new vision statement reflects this with “Together we aim high, discover talents, and build a brighter future.” We now must aim for this and our choice of subjects with limited restrictions does enable students to discover their talents.
This choice is reflected across all subject disciplines and in Key Stage Three recently we have introduced a third foreign language as well as maintaining the separate sciences taught by specialists.
The concerns around creativity can be applied to all the national curriculum subjects. In recent years, the focus has been on a knowledge-based curriculum often taught using more traditional, instructional methods. There is a place for this. However, all subjects would benefit from more collaborative, problem-solving work with creativity, underpinned by knowledge. I hope that one day a national curriculum moves further towards this.
For our part, we will work hard to turn our new vision into a reality, valuing all the subjects so that students do discover and excel in their talents.
Philip Hurst
Headteacher