WIS Prospectus 2012 - West Island School New Portal

FACULTY AND CURRICULUM INFORMATION
West Island School
CREATIVE ARTS
Creativity – What it means for our West Island School learners
At West Island School we are building a dynamic community that cares for its people and
fosters and celebrates knowledge and creativity. A vital community is one that embraces a sense
of discovery, creativity and imagination at the same time as basic human values of compassion
and respect. Our future depends on valuing the status of knowledge and a curiosity about new
ideas. Ideas come from all around the world and from a variety of sources. Diversity brings with
it many new approaches and perspectives to producing new ideas.
‘Creativity is related to culture. Cultural conditions can kindle or kill creativity. We do not
have creative ideas in a vacuum. Individual creativity is stimulated by the work, ideas and
achievements of other people. We stand on the shoulders of others to see further. This is true
in all fields, in business, science, sport, music, design, fashion, whatever.’ (Ken Robinson, Out of
Our Minds - Learning to be Creative, 2001)
Within our education community, the Creative Arts faculty and Circle in the Water aim to
develop a creative culture by emphasizing active engagement and reflection within the following
subject and performance strands:
• Drama, Performing Arts and Theatre (MYD, GCSE, IB and BTEC)
• Film (GCSE, IB)
• Music (MYD, IGCSE, IB)
• Visual Art and Design (MYD, GCSE, IB and BTEC)
These subjects and our performance company Circle in the Water provide opportunities for
students to acquire arts knowledge, practices and dispositions that can be used to develop selfawareness,
aesthetic awareness and the ability to solve problems, make decisions and
communicate effectively.
Students use their creativity, imagination and senses to express ideas across a range of social,
cultural, historical, political, technological and economic contexts through arts subjects. They
enhance their aesthetic understandings of arts elements and languages. They create their
own arts works and present and respond to their own and others’ arts works, considering
specific audiences and specific purposes. They recognise that the Creative Arts provide career
opportunities and develop skills that will help them to lead fulfilling recreational and working
lives. Employers worldwide value people who can be critical, analytical and think in ways which
are new; they call this innovative and creative thinking. Employers seek people who can work
and think independently, who can research, develop, analyse, make change and communicate
ideas. In a world of technological, economic, political and social change these are essential skills.
Students have ways of working to develop and demonstrate their knowledge and
understanding. They enhance their understanding of arts practice through active engagement,
both individually and collaboratively with arts elements, techniques, skills and processes,
working creatively and imaginatively, to take risks and focus on how the arts reinforce and
challenge their own experiences and those of other artists. They develop their ability to critically
analyse and reflect on the creative process that has occurred within one or across many arts
disciplines. Students select and use a range of tools and technologies, including information
and communication technologies (ICTs). They routinely demonstrate an autonomous and
purposeful use of ICTs to inquire, create and present arts works, and to communicate their
own arts practice and that of others. Students demonstrate evidence of their learning over
time in relation to the following assessable elements: knowledge and understanding; creating;
presenting; responding; reflecting.
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