Curious Minds

The development of ‘student voice’ is an integral part of Haslingden High School’s Improvement Plan. “Sixth Form teachers identified a lack of independent study skills as the main barrier to learning for post-16 Pupils. We felt strongly that.....we needed to begin with Year 7” (SIP)

This project would allow young people not just to work in partnership with teachers and practitioners but also to take the lead in making some key decisions that would drive the Creative Partnerships programme forward. The objective was to create groups of young people who would be able to make genuine choices about the cultural experiences available to all pupils. They would develop a raft of skills around team building, co-operative learning, interpersonal skills, speaking and listening, and presentation skills.

For teachers and practitioners, this project was primarily about taking risks, standing back and allowing young people to sometimes make the mistakes necessary in order to learn these skills.

Staff set out to select a new group of young people to form the Arts Council. Pupils were invited to submit written applications and were selected through practical workshops. From here, 17 young people were invited to join the Arts Council.

The Council worked together to organize a visit to Yorkshire Sculpture Park for a targeted group of their peers. They selected ceramic artist Julie Miles to join them, who they felt would enrich the experience for everyone involved. They agreed to use this first visit as an opportunity to develop team building amongst their peers.

The visit was used to model the marketing and organization of a second visit to the park for another targeted group of their peers during the spring term. Julie Miles worked with the Council before, during and after their visit to the sculpture park, to develop the skills that would enable them to deliver a workshop on the day of the second visit at the sculpture park’s Education Centre.

The Council met weekly to develop a marketing plan for the visit. Posters, notice boards and power-point presentations were shown in school assemblies alongside a series of ‘guerrilla’ sculpture workshops that were delivered in class time. All pupils attending the trip were invited to attend follow-up workshops, led by both the artist and the Council, to develop a piece of sculpture.

• Pupils organized themselves into taking on a number of project roles. Using a range of different communication skills, they fulfilled the requirements of these roles by making appropriate contact with outside agencies and artists, and acted responsibly during the visits themselves.
• Pupils were able to develop and exercise skills they would not normally be expected to use in a school setting; e.g. presentations to whole year assemblies and to large (200 +) cross-age groups.
  Staff showed a willingness to ‘stand back’ to allow pupils to take responsibility for their own learning while being available to offer support when needed.
• The project allowed staff to concentrate on ‘student voice’ as a central part of the project and not just as an ‘add on’ element. It raised the issue of how ‘student voice’ could be incorporated into the regular delivery of aspects of the regular school curriculum.
• During each session pupils continually reflected with teachers on what went well and what the key challenges were; e.g. ‘we talked a lot about how to make communication better’. (Yr10 pupil)

• 11 of the original 17 pupils will continue as part of the Arts Council and will select the new members from year 7.
• The Arts Council are planning to build on their learning and take a group into a primary school to run a workshop.
• The school feels that the processes adopted for this project to listen to and act on ‘student voice’ have worked very well and will influence the school’s planning for the future. The Arts Council is now recognized as a part of the school’s organizational and ‘after hours’ structures.  It will continue in 2009 /10 and will be funded independently by the school.