The Oval Primary School are looking for an creative practitioner with an affinity for the outdoors to help us explore the following question: ‘How can language and early writing skills be developed through exciting, stimulating experiences in our outdoor environment?’ Deadline for proposals Monday 29th November by 5pm About our School The Oval Primary School is located in Yardley, to the East of Birmingham. We have over 400 pupils on role and a further 60+ in nursery. We are a successful and constantly improving two form entry school. Pupils join us from a range of backgrounds. We presently have 8 religions and 23 races in school. A truly 'multicultural community' we celebrate all the major world religions and a wide variety of festivals. We have worked with a wide range of artists; most recently the school held a Carnival to celebrate black history, which involved all year groups working with artists, dancers and musicians specifically to reflect Caribbean culture and traditions. Recently rated as outstanding by Ofsted the school are proud to have a number of awards including healthy schools status, eco school, and Quality Mark. We are also a flagship school for Food For Life Partnership, we are committed to changing food culture within our school and the wider community. We have extended our early years from two form entry to three form entry. In early years we give same importance to outdoor classroom as to indoor classroom. We have implemented forest school in early years and will be extending to key stage one and two this year. The nursery is surrounded by green small hill and grassy area, children enjoy playing outdoors in all weathers. As a school we aim to provide the children with a broad, exciting and interesting curriculum and we are excited for the Enquiry Schools Programme to help us further our work in this. Project Aims Through our enquiry we would like a Creative Practitioner who has experience of working within early years to work with our children and staff in Nursery and Reception to: Develop the outdoor space to provide an environment where creative learning and teaching can take place. Allow children to have real ownership of the skills their gaining and to encourage child led learning. Extend their acquisition of language, develop speaking & listening, encourage conversation and the breadth and depth of language through meaningful experiences to lead to quality writing experiences in Early Years. Help us create a microcosm of another world and place that provides us with a plethora of opportunity to sustain child led learning through our shared outdoor space. Create an environment outdoors that will stimulate, excite and challenge our pupils to make new connection with the outside world. To encourage early mark making in their writing development and link the whole process of communication together via speaking, listening and writing. Help us entice and involve parents to be a part of their own and their children’s play and learning. Help us use our space imaginatively and develop our confidence and risk taking skills in creating new inventive approaches to outdoor learning. Share ideas and create time for reflection to allow the project to be refined as it unfolds. Develop a process and style of learning that engages and empowers the staff so that we can sustain outdoor learning after the project finishes. Project Information Age Group: Nursery & reception pupils Medium: A Creative Practitioner with an affinity for outdoor learning and teaching. Learning objectives: Encourage independent learning. Provide stimulating experience to encourage expressive learning. Curriculum Area: To raise the attainment in writing and mark making. CPD: Deliver CPD to staff through twilight sessions to increase their confidence in using the outdoor space to create exciting and dynamic learning techniques that we can embed within Early Years & Foundation Stage to create a sustainable legacy. Fees There is a budget of up to £4000 (to include planning, delivery, reflection, evaluation & materials) When Project planning Dec 2010/Jan 2011 Project delivery Spring half term onwards (Mid February – April) with a final showcase/sharing at the end of the project Practitioner requirements In addition we are looking for a creative practitioner who: Is experienced at working within Early Years and Foundation Stage. Is fun and easygoing and who is committed to collaborating with us to build on our existing good practise. Can encourage our cautious children to try new adventurous opportunities and take risks. Is passionate and enthusiastic about working with our children and us. Is committed to collaborating with our staff to create a sustainable legacy. Has a practice that will engage our pupils of all levels and abilities. Application If you would like to work with us on this project then please send: A recent CV. 400 - 600 word proposal stating your skills, how you would approach & deliver this project and why you would like to work with us. Budget breakdown Examples of previous work Details of 2 referees from education providers with whom you have previously partnered. All applicants must have CRB (within last 12 months) and Public Liability Insurance to the value of £5 million Please send application by post to Manju Chadda, The Oval Primary School, Whittington Oval, Yardley, Birmingham, B33 8JG or you can email your application to Manju Chadda at : m.chadda@theoval.bham.sch.uk If you require any further information then contact The Oval’s Creative Agent Harmeet Chagger-Khan via email: harmeetchagger@yahoo.co.uk Interviews Deadline for applications: Monday 29th November 2010 by 5pm Short listed candidates will be notified by Friday 3rd December 2010 Interviews will take place on Tuesday 7th December 2010 Planning: Dec/Jan 2011 Delivery: Mid Feb Onwards If selected for interview you will be asked to show some of your work to 8 of our nursery children (15 mins) followed by a 20 minute interview.
