Creative Partnerships focus: Fell Dyke Primary School
Fell Dyke Primary School have been working with Creative Partnerships on the provocation, 'Can solving a 'real life' school issue engage children in their learning, especially Year 4 boys from emotionally, socially and economically vulnerable families?'
The targeted children in Year 4 will act as 'project managers' and lead the rest of the year group as they explore the possibilities of creating an exciting forest school on our site. They will have a forest adventure of their own in order to generate ideas for the school's plans and will visit children in other settings who have created outdoor environments on a similar theme.
The children will work with creative practitioners to learn about the suitability of plants linked to the type of soil the school has, and the location of where best these plants would grow in the space. They will go onto create detailed plans about their vision of what the school's environment will look like and will work on securing funding from local businesses to support the project. Parents/carers and other stakeholders will be invited to regular update events and will take part in the actual construction of the forest school. The creative practitioners will also lead INSET for school staff about how to ensure the maintenance and development of the site and to plan for its appropriate use in the future.
The school's creative agent will meet regularly with the children and the coordinator to provide challenge and assist in the evaluation and sustainability of the project. The project is at the forefront of national initiatives to engage children in a life-long love of learning through real experiences and outdoor and adventurous activities as described in the National Curriculum.
Watch this space for more news from Fell Dyke, and don't forget to apply for funding for your own school, by 1 June.