Curious Minds

Bedford Primary School - Inspired To Write

Bedford Primary School's latest project, 'Inspired to Write', has produced incredible standards in writing and art, captured on their Radiowaves web site (see links below).  After three years of working with Creative Partnerships, the school believes that the time spent building relationships with practitioners and crystallising needs, outcomes and expectations is what helps them achieve such a successful impact.

 

Artists Chris Rainham and Paul Gent, musician Richard Gordon-Smith and Drama Practitioner Ann Farrar worked with Year 5 and 6 children to stimulate them to approach their writing differently.  Children explain how the collaborative planning process is the magic ingredient:

'We got so excited about the planning because they always made it interactive.  They do it as fun as possible and you actually get a sense of what it's like to be in space.  They let us make planets and a rocket.'

'It was better than just writing a story.  It was cool.'

 

Staff now involve children in long-term planning for most lessons.  They immerse children in visits linked to curriculum topics and this generates ideas.  Both staff and children's ideas are recorded on the same planning grid and every child identifies a question that informs more detailed planning.  For example, 'Is there a footprint on Mars?', 'How does a spaceship move?'

Headteacher Ruth Braithwaite says 'The only way for Bedford to achieve high standards is by involving children and parents creatively.'