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There are lots of resources available online which address creativity, arts, culture and education. Many have been developed with teachers and schools in mind.  We will share some selected resources with you in each bulletin.

1. Dance Tales is a digital resource about dance designed to stimulate creative thinking for teachers and children alike. It was created by CoisCéim and The School of Arts Education and Movement, Institute of Education, DCU. Dance Tales is a legacy of CoisCeim’s three year residency in DCU, supported by the Arts Council. Find out about how and why Dance Tales was created and access the resource and lesson plans here. https://artsineducation.ie/en/project/creative-dance-tales/

2. The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation. The Forum engages political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

Creative Schools recently enjoyed meeting with school coordinators from the 2021 programme and we shared this video from the World Economic Forum which proposes that creativity matters more than iq. Follow the link to watch the video.

https://www.weforum.org/videos/23081-here-s-why-creativity-matters-more-than-iq

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Creative Schools Regional Coordinator Fiona Harrington shares her experience of Creative Schools Week 2021.

In 2021 Our Lady of Victories Infant School participated in Creative Schools Week. It was coming to the end of the ‘official’ Creative Schools journey, although there was little doubt the school would continue to excel in their many creative endeavours and explorations.

Due to Covid, there had been many hiccups, cancellations and reassessments of the creative plan and activities, so needless to say there was much excitement, when finally, the school was able to welcome visitors back onsite again.

The children had a huge interest in all things tactile and really enjoyed the sensory experience of using different materials. The teachers were also interested in gaining new ideas and skills in the area of fabric and fibre, from the primary school visual arts curriculum.

With this in mind, textile artist Ciara Harrison was invited into the school to spend time working with the students and teachers on a range of fantastically fun fabric and fibre projects.

Firstly, the children created their very own creatures using lots of different fabrics, felts and threads. They even tried their hands at sewing! This was hard work but luckily there were lots of SNA’s and teachers to help out.

They then started to think about the natural world and how caterpillars transform to butterflies. This was the perfect inspiration for the next session. Using tubing, threads and tie dying, they created a whole set of colourful caterpillars, which later grew wings and became butterflies.

As the week drew to a close, the artist and students decided a celebration was in order. This was done in style by having a Mad Hatters Party. For these sessions, Ciara guided everyone in creating their own hats and costumes using recycled materials and sewing techniques. A great week of fun, imagination and creativity was had by all.

Fiona Harrington,

Regional Coordinator, Creative Schools

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We are delighted to welcome you to our first Creative Schools Week bulletin for 2022.

These bulletins are designed to inform and engage with you as Creative Schools Week 2022 draws nearer.

The theme for Creative Schools Week 2022 is ‘Creativity Live Here! / Tá Beocht na Cruthaitheachta Anseo!’

The past two years have presented challenges to our teaching and learning environments and staff and students in every school have met these challenges in creative and innovative ways.  This year the theme encourages school communities to pause and reflect on where creativity is evident in our lives, in every class, in every school and in the experience of every student.

Creative Schools Week is a time to focus on celebrating this creativity, perhaps adding to the experiences of students in the form of events or workshops and providing a platform to show how creative each school can be.

If you are a school currently participating in Creative Schools your Creative Associate will also be working with you to bring Creative Schools Week into your journey as a Creative School.

Every school will have a different approach and we hope these bulletins will help you and your school get the most from Creative Schools Week 2022.

You can also find more details about how schools can engage with Creative Schools Week on our website.

If you have any feedback about the bulletins, please get in touch with creativeschools@artscouncil.ie

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Where does creativity live in your school? Where does wondering happen? When do students explore ‘What if’ and ‘Why not’ questions?  How is inspiration and imagination expressed?

Creativity is alive and well, developing and flourishing in school environments. Creative Schools Week is an opportunity to highlight those areas where creativity is at work and give students an opportunity to share their creative exploits with the school community.

Here are some ideas you school might like to try as you start to plan for Creative Schools Week

1.      Set up a Creative Schools Week focus group with students and staff to find out how the school would like to participate in the week

2.      Let your school community know about Creative Schools Week by creating a banner or other displays. Create a tagline, a logo, a motto that reflects the identity of your school.

Where else does creativity live?

Thinking about how artists work, how they generate ideas and how they gather inspiration can be a great discussion topic to help explore creativity.

The examples below, featuring artists talking about working with ideas, creating, inspiration and creativity that might help start a broader discussion about where creativity lives.

Making a new show from idea to stage (Primary School Focus)

Ceol Connected give a behind the scenes peek at putting creativity to work in the creation of a new show.  Find out where the ideas came from, see how the show was put together and listen to some of the songs.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzo9dJUYStQ&list=PLLWo1zNvgJVPtNxs1I0b7Olpa9070At-b&index=3

Spring into Stories with acclaimed author Dave Rudden (Post Primary School Focus)

Tune in to hear author Dave Rudden talk about books, movies and lots more.  Students can find out how to develop their knowledge of what they do and don’t like and use this in their own creativity.

https://childrensbooksireland.ie/resources-ideas/ideas-activities-packs/class-reads-resource-packs-and-instructional-videos