Year one: 

In our first year we set up a creative residency in each school, defined and shaped collaboratively by the teachers and creative practitioners. Using reflective practices in school and in our community of practice meetings, we explored these experiences through discussion, shared case studies and work, alongside the University of Nottingham evaluation team.

Year two: 

In our second year, we built on our understandings of teaching for creativity, expanded our range of creative activities and practitioners in school and pursued the exploration of how Creativity Collaboratives could inform our quest to understand how we nurture our children’s innate creative capacity and sustain their curiosity about the world. Sharper focus was one of our four key areas of interest, steering our work. 

Can we improve the way our schools nurture children’s creativity and sustain their curiosity through:

• teacher learning, by prioritising teachers’ professional learning about teaching for creativity 

• complementarity, by creating effective communities of practice that include teachers, creative practitioners and cultural education partners 

• sustainability, by building networks of events, support and school governance that sustain teaching for creativity

• place, by building strong school connections to local cultures and heritage and supporting the development of children’s sense of place 

By the end of the second year of the project, schools successfully completed their first and second Creativity Collaboratives residencies. The steering group pooled their talents and collectively took over leadership and management of the project due to project lead illness, and a new coordinator was identified for year three. In the creation of residencies, partnerships, community of practice meetings and information on ChalleNGe’s website, we sought to explore and identify in greater depth how teaching for creativity can be a powerful means of supporting teaching and learning for teachers and children. 

The importance of prioritising teachers’ professional learning about teaching for creativity throughout the school led to the development of an in-service training days programme for all the staff in all the project schools, placed in the cultural venues of our city. We brought together 500 teachers, senior leadership teams and teaching assistants to Nottingham Playhouse, The Albert Hall, Nottingham Castle and St Barnabas Cathedral for a continuing professional development programme of keynote speakers. This included the inspirational Wolfgang Buttress and a choice of more than 40 practical, creative workshops led by Nottingham based creative practitioners and cultural organisations. Everyone took part in a workshop led by Bill Lucas on some of the theory and models behind creative educational pedagogies. Collaborative teachers and their practitioner partners led workshops for their peers and connections were made with key city initiatives, such as Child Friendly Nottingham, UNESCO city of literature and our commitment to our Cultural Rucksack. The reflective practice in whole school groups at the end of the day provided staff with a chance to consider how they wanted to move on with the project collectively in the third year. This was informed by practical and theoretical understanding and experiences of teaching for creativity.

Year three: 

In the final year of the Creativity Collaboratives Nottingham project, we focused on how we can sustain the work we’ve done so far. This was not because we felt we had got to where we wanted to be, but because we wanted to make sure that we could build on the foundations laid. Nottingham, like many other cities, is experiencing tough times financially and politically. This made us even more determined to focus our efforts on working together to support and strengthen creativity in our city as we move forward. 

Specifically, this means: 
• we have strengthened the partnerships between schools and the creative and cultural sectors to develop and embed Nottingham’s cultural rucksack 

• the principle underpinning the cultural rucksack was that everyone who goes to school in Nottingham is entitled to access and enjoy the cultural and creative resources of their own city 

• we’ve been turning this principle into a practical reality by establishing networks, making new connections, recognising complementary skills, planning together, creating a brilliant new directory, and working with city transport 

Year three has been about embedding and further developing this work that crucially relies on:

Partnerships

We’ve established a strong community of practice between the 12 schools in the project and a wide array of creative practitioners. At the end of year two, we hosted a huge professional development event in one of the city’s most vibrant cultural quarters. We invited in potential partners and established links between the work of the Creativity Collaborative and other city initiatives, including Nottingham’s bid to UNICEF for child friendly city status and the work of the educational charity Ignite! which focuses on developing young people’s curiosity. This year we have supported and strengthened these civic, charitable and other partnerships through practical activities, sharing outcomes and making sure we understand one another’s work. 

We recognise, though, that these partnerships rely on strengthening practice in the schools in our collaborative, building links local to each of the schools, and working with other schools in the city and beyond. This has been the central core of our work in year three. We wanted to extend and embed the commitment to teaching for creativity within each of the schools through sharing, modelling and working with school leaders and governors and with each school’s community. Like any city, Nottingham is diverse, with distinctive localities. 

Schools are central to these localities. That is why we focused on strengthening local links on the estates and in the different areas our schools served, building creative partnerships with other schools and organisations to celebrate local culture and creativity and appreciate the history and heritage.