When education consultant Debra Kidd was asked to help Girnhill infant’s school’s reluctant readers, she created a cross-curricular creative project on ‘the tiger who came to tea’.
“A statemented child (speech and language) couldn’t wait for his turn in the role play area and wanted to be recorded pretending to be the troll. He was so engaged that he ‘forgot’ he didn’t like to talk in front of other people!”
(Year one teacher.)
The ‘Chrysalis project’
Thirty schools who took part in ‘the Chrysalis Project’ in Wakefeld – a local authority-funded campaign to help the area’s primary schools make their lessons more creative. The LA provided ASTs to teach classroom teachers new techniques – and I was sent to Girnhill infants’ school for a term.
I was asked to lead a cross-curricular creative project, where children would use role play, art, movement and music to develop more confidence in writing. I wanted to create a classroom atmosphere where children ‘can’t wait’ to start – where they ‘forget’ they don’t like school/work/literacy/numeracy and instead are begging for the pen, the microphone or the puzzle. A creative curriculum, and a willingness to break the boundaries of the normal school day, can create this drive.
Stories bring learning to life in primary schools. Stories from books, stories from pictures and stories from history make the reason for lessons clear. One head teacher in the Chrysalis project said: “I realised that this is truly inclusive learning – the impact is as significant on the gifted and talented as it is on reluctant and disengaged children – they all achieved together.”