Creativity In The Classroom
Creativity in the classroom is a vital component of high-quality learning experiences for all pupils. It fosters innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, which are essential for success in today’s rapidly changing world. By encouraging creativity, we help students to develop a love for learning, build confidence, and enhance their ability to express themselves. It isn’t just about what students learn, but more importantly how they learn, by embracing creativity in education we prepare learners to not just absorb facts but to question, imagine and think critically. We value creativity and place it at the heart of teaching and learning because it fosters deeper understanding, motivates learners, and cultivates skills needed for the real world, such as adaptability and collaboration
Our commitment to creativity is demonstrated through our Institute where we encourage colleagues to be creative, develop professionally and in turn enthuse our learners! Our Training and Events programme provides details of a professional development programmes which provide diverse opportunities for colleagues to work with like-minded colleagues while they develop their own projects in school.
View our Creativity in the Classroom training and events here.
A Touch of Genius
If we want out pupils to be creative then we know that we must create the conditions for our teachers to be creative too. The use of Genius Time is part of our philosophy and we have learned from business organisations in this respect… Google came up with the idea to give employees time to spend on projects and topics that mattered to them. Some of the best ideas used across the company have emerged from that approach. We love this approach and thought about how we could make this work for our colleagues
The format is that leaders allocate a number of hours from the professional development programme to enable colleagues to explore their own passions and interests with the aim of improving the Quality of Education for our students. The starting point is a one-to-one coaching conversation with a member of staff to scope out the staff member’s interest, guided by a series of open questions, such as ‘What is on your mind?’, ‘What is the challenge here for you?’, ‘What do you want?’, and ‘How can I help?’ Then the enquiry question is established, and an ‘intent’ section completed, followed by a discussion of ideas and strategies for implementation and impact.
The trust benefits from the development of innovative practice and it improves the motivation and engagement of our colleagues, which feeds back into teaching and learning and helps strengthen retention. There is also a strong message in all this about our educational values. If we want our philosophy of no limits to learning to resonate with our students, then it also must apply to our colleagues.
Some of our best ideas in the Trust have resulted from trusting our colleagues and supporting their professional autonomy.
Find out more
Teaching Times article on the use of genius time during CPD: Teaching Times – Professional Development Touched by Genius.