Creativity - at the heart of our school
"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have." - Maya Angelo
At a recent INSET day all of our staff heard Sir Ken Robinson’s fascinating TED Talk on schools killing creativity and, although the video is 10 years old, the message still holds true.
In his talk Sir Ken proclaims that “We don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out if it.” He believes that every education system around the world has the same hierarchy of subjects. First are Mathematics and Languages, then the Humanities and at the bottom are the Arts (and within Arts, Music and Art take a higher status than Drama and Dance). Why is this? It shouldn’t be an ‘either/or’ choice with a certain subject being selected over another due to its place in the hierarchy. We are proud that our girls are confident choosing Physics alongside Photography, Chemistry alongside Classical Civilisation, and Mathematics alongside French because our young women know who they are, what motivates them and are ambitious to be creative and develop original approaches to, and connections within, their learning. This creative approach will stand them in good stead when starting out on the career ladder (or ‘patch-work quilt’ as one of our speakers at our recent Girl STEM leadership day put it) as creativity is increasingly valued as an important employability skill. Just last week a 24 hour brainstorming session took place at London’s Science Museum, called STEAM Hack, which is part of a campaign “to give Art an equal status with Science and ensure school leavers have the creativity and innovation craved by workplace employers.”
Sir Ken concludes by saying that “Creativity […] more often than not comes about through the interaction of different disciplinary ways of seeing things.” If this comment teaches us anything – it’s that subjects should be seen in parallel and not as a hierarchy. Although one might, at first glance, attribute different skills to different subjects – let’s say analysis and research in Science and History, and communication and creative thinking in English and Art - subject specialists in these areas could easily claim that there is as much analysis and research in English and Art, and as much communication and creative thinking in Science and History; these skills are complementary and overlapping. Indeed, over the last year or so we have seen more and more references to STEAM; a concept derived from a teacher’s suggestion to rename STEM as STEAM to acknowledge and incorporate the Arts into the acronym, therefore removing some of the dilemma for bright girls around the perceived need to choose between the Arts and Sciences. (Whilst we do support this notion we want educators and thought leaders to remain vigilant so that the important STEM focus does not get diluted.)
A great case study at St Mary’s School, Cambridge of a student harmoniously fulfilling the STEAM acronym with great creativity during the past academic year is Constance H., our Head Boarder. Constance is passionate about Art and her portfolio is both technically superb, having received awards for her work in recent competitions, as well as full of emotional impact. Constance achieved A*A*A*AA in her A Level results in Chemistry, Mathematics, Art and Design, Physics and Chinese respectively. Constance said: “I really enjoy both Science and Art. I love the contrast as Physics offers a world of certainty whilst Art is all about creative expression.”
The government has recently been accused of "undermining creative subjects" and some leaders have suggested that state education should follow private schools' lead and take the arts more seriously. Former children’s commissioner for England Maggie Atkinson has said that every school in London should partner with at least one arts organisation. We are proud to hold the Gold Artsmark Award and will be going for gold again this year. Artsmark gives every child the opportunity to create, compose, and perform, gain knowledge and understanding, and to visit experience and participate in extraordinary work. The new look Artsmark focuses on outreach and forming community partnerships, as Maggie Atkinson suggests all schools should do. We are committed to engaging with key stakeholders in the Cambridge area to supplement our classroom teaching; this not only includes local schools but arts groups and organisations, for instance the world-renowned Fitzwilliam Museum or Cambridge Arts Theatre.
As we all know the term Creative Arts covers so much more than just Art and, at St Mary’s School, Cambridge we are extremely fortunate to have thriving Art, Music, Drama, Dance and English departments; each showcasing the talents of not only our students but our teachers too. We were thrilled that this year 80% of our Art & Design A Level students achieved A* - A grades and 100% of our Photography students achieved A*- A. You only need to look around our Art Centre to witness the extremely high calibre of creative thinking which flows in the studios.
This week we are looking forward to our annual Young Pianist and Young Musician of the Year competitions; the standard of performances is always astonishingly high. This is yet another platform to showcase our students’ creativity in the arts. Our Drama department frequently receives comments from parents and friends who are impressed by our students’ creative flair in their performances – most recently in Annie and Rob John’s play The Spaceman; one parent said: “I’ve seen the one in the West End, and this one was better.” Our Junior School pupils even perform in French – last year the French theatre club put on Asterix and Obelix: The Musical. Indeed, our Reception class learns French and Mandarin vocabulary through the medium of song! So, right from the start, our curriculum and our extra-curricular activities work harmoniously and creatively, encouraging curious minds to reach their full creative potential.
Of course it’s not just the Performing Arts that we should be highlighting: just before half term we hosted our fourth annual Creative Writing Competition, which is open to boys and girls from Year 5 to Year 8 across Cambridgeshire primary and prep schools . This year’s competition was the most popular yet with 379 entries from 12 state and private schools. This important outreach project further demonstrates our commitment to fostering the sort of community partnerships in the creative fields that Maggie Atkinson is alluding to above.
As the global market place is constantly changing, we can no longer only educate tomorrow's leaders and workforce for specific occupations. In order for our girls and young women to be successful, we must educate them to be more innovative and creative. We believe that creativity should be central to the curriculum and to the process of curriculum delivery rather than an added extra and we believe that all children are entitled to this broad and balanced curriculum. Consequently, we have implemented a core Creative Curriculum at the Junior School which merges the traditional elements of independent learning with creativity, challenge and discovery – implementing this approach from the start of education within a school context. Thomas Edison once said “The greatest invention in the world is the mind of a child”; this statement reigns supreme in our school where creativity continues to be at the heart of all that we do.