‘School Projects' means projects where the process is far more important than the product - indeed, there may not even be a product. Very often a project will have an emphasis on something the school feels is lacking – DT experiences, for instance, but our mission, always, is to show that something like DT is TOTALLY cross-curricula, and literacy, numeracy, science, geography etc can be, and are, all explored, and many of the ‘creative learning characteristics’ (such as problem solving, co-learning, divergent thinking, taking risks and refinement of ideas) are covered and children are in the zone and want to stay in during lunch!  An example of this is when there had been an 'incident' in a small rural school, and the head asked Pete to come in and explore the topic of the Great Fire of London.  Pete went in for a couple of afternoons and made a small 'street' of (highly flammable...) houses, and then the whole school gathered on the playing field and Pete  set fire to the end one. There were gasps as the fire quickly spread and consumed the buildings. You might say that this was risky, but it was well managed, and there was huge opportunity for historical research as well as discussions about the real risks of fire. A lot of Pete's work has been developing programmes for kinaesthetic learners - and these have been very successful in raising awareness in staff that Craig and Nathan are not naughty boys, and usually produce the most interesting, concentrated work in a kinaesthetic session.  Also helping staff to see that they can be much more free with their planning, perhaps even planning retrospectively,  and giving the children much more real choice in their learning is possible  without them either running amok or not achieving.... the children, that is...

We have both worked on creative learning  projects in Early Years settings - the basic idea for the work was to look at some philosophies for EY (for instance Reggio) and see if we could work with staff to devise our own philosophy for the particular setting, based on a child led approach with an emphasis on creativity. One of the most interesting things has been persuading staff that there is no need for them to be ‘artistic’, nor need they be creative - they simply have to recognise it in the children then find ways of enhancing and developing it (which in itself is a creative process.... so they are creative after all...ha ha!

Peter Abbs said that ‘Learning may be released by the teacher but it can never be conferred’ (Peter Abbs 2003), and we try to help staff to see this. 'It is amazing how much can be taught when subject boundaries are taken away ' says  Professor Helen Storey - and in our projects we try to include a conscious cross-curricula approach - storytelling might include maths, an energy project might include dance/drama.

And Oscar Wilde said 'A grapefruit is a lemon that had a chance and took advantage of it ' - in our school projects we try to show everyone 'the chance' - it's up to them to take it.

We have both written books which are available on Amazon, where we talk about our experiences in schools.  Pete's is a 'how to' manual, where he describes in detail how to work with withy(willow) and bag-ties. Using these two materials one can make ANYTHING, and the book shows you how.

My book tells you how to work with an artist in school - either on a creative learning project or a sculpture project - what to expect, how to find your artist, the interview process etc, all from our vast experience.

Pete Rogers - BAGTIE & WITHY, ART & TECHNOLOGY

Alex Hallowes - SCHOOL PROJECTs, WORKING WITH AN ARTIST IN SCHOOL