Creative learning through the arts
—an action plan for Wales

Ysgol Y Traeth

Ysgol Y Traeth collaborated with Creative Agent Mari Rowland Hughes on a project focusing on developing the Welsh oracy skills of year 5 pupils.

The class of 27 pupils decided to work with artist Catrin Williams, and author Lowri Cooke to develop an understanding of their local town through food. Not only was it a fun way to develop pupils' confidence in speaking Welsh, but also an opportunity to work cross-curricular by introducing them to their local history and geography.

The project began with pupils sharing their experiences of their favourite foods and recipes from home. Following this, pupils travelled around local food businesses in order to develop an understanding of the food chain. This experience enabled them to ask questions, try out new foods, and find out about food production. The pupils were inspired to create images and pictures of the food they had experienced at Barmouth, by creating work such as tablecloths.

The project came to its climax with a visit to the renowned Portmeirion Restaurant to experience a five-course meal. This actively encouraged the pupils to develop their oracy, talking about the food they experienced and bringing to life all the skills developed throughout the 7 sessions creating imaginative, creative and critical thinking individuals. Afternoon tea was also held at the school with parents to share the journey and its lasting impact on staff and pupils.
‍
Key Outcomes‍

• Positive impact on pupils' use of new Welsh vocabulary
  
• An increase in pupils' awareness of the social use of the Welsh language on a local level
• Learners more willing to work independently and to evaluate their own work
• The class teacher is more confident in venturing and implementing creative ideas cross-curricular
• Creative Practitioners have developed their ability to work collaboratively

Go and See:
Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn BBC NOW Family Concert

Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn, Denbigh, applied for a Go and See grant in order to take ten students with Specific Learning Needs to travel to Cardiff for a range of arts related activities.
‍
The visit began with a tour of the Wales Millennium Centre, where they learnt about the theatre and got to see backstage. This work was linked to the Agored Cymru curriculum that the students currently study to help them to develop confidence in new situations. Following the tour, pupils participated in a workshop with musicians from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, led by Special School Music Workshop Leader, Andy Pidcock, in which they developed their social and musical skills and experienced range of instruments that are currently on offer in the school.
‍
During the workshop, pupils prepared and rehearsed a piece that they went on to perform with the orchestra as part of BBC NOW’s Family Concert at St David’s Hall.
‍
Attending a concert and performing with an orchestra was a huge step for many of the students because different sights, sounds and sensory experiences can be overwhelming for people with autism. Teachers reported that taking part in the concert was a huge challenge for the students, who were all on the Autistic spectrum. Their musical skills improved during the course and their confidence in dealing with new people and situations increased immensely.

“This was the best experience of my life.” – Learner
‍
“Thank you for trusting us and taking us to Cardiff.” – Learner
‍
“This trip has been transformative for these students.” – Teacher

First World War Commemorative Fund:
The White Feather

The White Feather by Theatr na nÓg mixed the harsh realities of warfare with moments of magic, incorporating the words of the First World War poets amongst others with beguiling Welsh folk music to tell a devastating tale of family, love and loss. 
‍
24 schools accessed the First World War Commemorative Fund to attend The White Feather. The production was performed at the Dylan Thomas Theatre, Swansea from 18 September–26 October (English) and was performed in Welsh from 7–16 November. In partnership with Swansea Museum and the National Waterfront Museum, a whole day of activities was offered to the schools attending. This included the performance, a Q&A with the cast, a workshop at Swansea Museum and at the National Waterfront Museum. 

Schools applying to the First World War Commemorative Fund applied to cover the cost of tickets and/or transport with 10% match funding coming from the school or parental contributions. The experience brought to life the realities of the First World War, providing pupils with the opportunity to explore for themselves the impact that war have on families living in Wales.

“The experience was an excellent means of engaging the children in our class theme and supported both the new curriculum reform in Wales as well as our School’s new approach to teaching and promoting independent learning. It encouraged them to empathise with children and adults living during this time, develop their knowledge and understanding as well as giving them a sense of cultural identity as the play is set in Swansea.”
‍– Teacher, Pembrey C.P. School
‍
“I enjoyed the production a lot. It really helped me to understand how difficult life was for families who have to live through war. It was amazing – I felt like I was actually there!”
‍– Pupil, aged 10
‍
“The experience allowed schools to explore areas of learning including humanities, health and well-being, languages, literacy and communication and expressive arts. ‘[…] above all, the opportunity to attend the production provided some pupils with an experience that they may not have outside of school”
‍– Teacher Pembrey C.P. School

“I've never seen a show so close up before – wow!”
‍– Pupil, aged 10

Creative Collaborations:
Humanequin

Mess Up The Mess formed a partnership between Youth Cymru, Radyr Comprehensive School and Wales Millennium Centre to rework and shape a professional performance of Humanequin, which explored the experiences of young trans people.

Young people and teachers were fully involved throughout the development of Humanequin and the script was written based on the stories and experiences of young trans and non-binary people. Humanequin used theatre to explore a sensitive and taboo issue and employed three trans and non-binary actors to play the roles.

Mess Up The Mess and Youth Cymru facilitated six creative workshops and worked with 159 young people, supporting them to explore the themes of Humanequin and create their own creative artwork in response. These workshops were scheduled to meet the needs of the young people and organisation – some workshops took place during an evening youth club; others took place over the course of two days with young people in school. The young people’s artwork and poetry was displayed at the Wales Millennium Centre and pupils from St Teilo’s School performed a song after one of the performances.

As well as the performances at the Wales Millennium Centre, a number of other activities took place at the centre including a Q&A with Jude Kelly facilitated by four young people and a Queer Arts Panel discussion led by the writer Kelly Jones.

Teachers from Radyr Comprehensive School felt that throughout the project, pupils explored feeling safe, how to be inclusive, gender identity, and trans awareness.

Pupils gained a better understanding of the issues faced by trans young people and now know how to better support trans young people in the school community; they have learned the appropriate terminology to use. The project has inspired conversations between staff, parents and students. The school already had an LGBT+ group but this project helped to bring the topic of trans issues for young people to the forefront of conversations within the group. 

The project has inspired conversations and new initiatives in organisations leading to lasting changes which will benefit trans young people in the future. For example, the establishment of an LGBT+ youth club in Merthyr Tydfil.

As part of the project Transform the Conversation zine and short film were created which continues to be shared across networks and via social media.

Mess Up The Mess plan to continue their relationship with Radyr Comprehensive School and other stakeholders to support their work. Youth Cymru are returning to Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Edern to provide PSE lessons for young people on the themes of Humanequin. They also plan provide support for the new LGBT+ youth group at The Engine House. 

“It was amazing! I loved hearing these stories that we don’t normally hear.”
‍– Pupil, Radyr Comprehensive School
‍
“‘I like how you have shown that transgender people are the exact same as everyone else.”
‍– Pupil, Radyr Comprehensive School
‍
“‘I’ve seen how hard it is for trans people in our community. I will stand up to people who have inappropriate views on trans people.”
‍– Pupil, Radyr Comprehensive School

Arts and Education Network: South East Wales

The Arts and Education Network South East Wales was approached by St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Tredegar, seeking mentoring support in digital activities with the expressive arts. The Network advised that a course had been developed to support this, Make it Digital: easy apps to inspire learners, was running at Big Pit, local to Tredegar. Teacher Jenny Blanks attended the course, and following this, the Network arranged for Arts Champion Darren Latham to deliver a programme of mentoring at the school to embed some of the learning from the course across the whole school.
‍
The aim of the mentoring was to develop new skills in teachers, through the joint delivery of several sessions led by the Year 4 teacher and the Arts Champion. Pupils and staff worked together towards a common goal of creating a class animation. This enabled staff to equip themselves step by step with all the skills necessary for Section 3: Producing in the Digital Competence Framework.
‍
During the process, the Arts Champion introduced teachers and teaching assistants to new creative processes and digital skills such as apps including Squid Ink Green Screen and I Can Animate. The process of project included a range of creative disciplines including storytelling, drama, moulding with plasticine, drawing and learning animator skills such as secondary movements and characterisation. This mentoring modelled how participating in an authentic art project can combine a range of art forms, naturally provide a range of learning opportunities e.g. linking to literacy and using a piece of high-quality Welsh culture as a starting point.
‍
Staff developed their confidence in using equipment and programs already available in school but not fully utilised, such as IMovie and Garage Band. The sessions also highlighted to the teaching team that facilitating authentic projects focussing on process rather than outcome can reduce the amount of preparation time involved in an activity, while having the opportunity to draw out a huge amount of learning from the pupil’s engagement. With the support of the Arts Champion, they then used all these resources with the pupils. Teachers gained confidence in moving from traditional classroom teaching styles to allow children to explore the creative process, express ideas, and develop their own skills.
‍
Staff responded very positively to this project. They now have greater confidence to:

• Use a cultural resource to inspire a creative project
  
• Plan and facilitate an authentic, pupil-led creative process from beginning to end
• Integrate a range of creative disciplines into an expressive arts project
• Use hardware to create animation
• Create stop motion animation on a green screen and then add a background
• Transfer files from one device to another in order to edit video length, add/copy scenes, reverse and add titles
• Create audio files, transfer to film edit and edit the audio files to fit the film 
• Save the final film ready to be shared
• Draw learning out of a process-led creative project