By GEMMA BROWN gsomerville@cngroup.co.uk

Last updated at 09:57, Friday, 30 July 2010

A TYNEDALE first school joined the circus to mark the halfway point of its Creative Partnerships project.

Having a stretch: Steve Cousins, from Let's Circus, in Newcastle, is pictured teacher Broomley First School pupils some circus skills.

Broomley First School in Stocksfield held of week of events – which included a series of circus skills workshops involving the whole school – to mark a year since becoming a change school under the Government’s flagship scheme.

A creative learning programme, the initiative is designed to develop the skills of young people, by raising their aspirations and achievements, through teaching in the outdoor environment.

And towards the end of term, children at the school got the chance to try their hand at everything from juggling to plate-spinning as part of a visit from Newcastle-based professional circus outreach company Let’s Circus.

The school, already rated outstanding by Ofsted, aims to further enhance the creative curriculum in the coming year by developing teachers’ creative interests and embedding them into day to day lessons.

Natalie Henderson, who has been working for Creative Partnerships as a creative agent at Broomley, said: “This initiative is a unique opportunity for teachers to introduce new skills that might not have been brought into their professional life before.

“They can access further training and resources which will offer sustainable change to the school curriculum, to the children’s learning experience, and to the teachers themselves.”

Under the leadership of headteacher Sheila Coulson, whose belief is that using the outdoor environment adds quality and diversity to pupils’ learning, children have taken part in forest school days in Broomley Woods, play performances on an outdoor stage, mountain bike orienteering at Broomley Grange and the circus visit.

Throughout the year, John Scott from Sourdust Pottery, in Stocksfield, has also worked with children in the whole school to create pottery tiles depicting the elements, based on children’s own experiences of the outdoors.

Under John’s guidance, pupils have used the tiles to put together a permanent art fixture in school and have also worked on mask making, puppetry and weaving with other artists, in recognition of Broomley’s commitment to the arts – which led to it securing an Artsmark silver award.

First published at 09:42, Friday, 30 July 2010
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk