Creativity Collaborative News and Events
All the latest from our dynamic University of Winchester Academy Trust Creativity Collaborative
EVENTS
21 May 2025: Fostering Creative Thinking in Schools: Insights from the Creativity Collaborative about benefits for pupils, teachers and schools
A free event for school leaders, teachers and researchers.
Join us to hear from school leaders, teachers and researchers about how we introduced teaching for creativity into our schools. Learn about:
· the benefits we have seen for pupils’ well-being, engagement, creativity and learning
· the impact on teachers’ practice and job satisfaction
· the global movement to widen creativity in schools
Speakers:
Paul Sowden, Professor of Psychology, Cognition & Creativity, University of Winchester
Nicola Wells, CEO University of Winchester Academy Trust
Dr Marnie Seymour, Senior Fellow in Knowledge Exchange
Bronte Bailey, Creativity Lead, Teacher Stoneham Park Primary
Dr Frances Warren, Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology
Bill Lucas, Professor of Learning and Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning, University of Winchester.
Dr Ellen Spencer, Senior Researcher at the Centre for Real-World Learning, University of Winchester
4-7pm; arrival and drinks reception from 4pm followed by talks and discussion 4.30-6:30pm.
St Alphege Building room 003, King Alfred Quarter, Sparkford Road, Winchester SO22 4NR.
NEWS
April 2025: Creativity Collective publishes impact report and powerful case examples
This month, the Collective published a paper that reports the impacts of our approach to Teaching for Creativity on teachers’ practice. The supporting information has a set of case studies by our School Creativity Champions, available as a resource for schools and for teachers wanting to develop their teaching for creativity across the primary curriculum.
Bronte Bailey shows how teaching for creativity can be applied in Key Stage 1 Science through a unit focused on habitats which culminates with pupils creating a habitat for a newly discovered insect.
Amy Jones shows how teaching for creativity can be applied in Key Stage 2 Design and Technology in a unit that explores healthy eating and Greek cuisine leading on to pupils designing and pitching a lunch recipe for an Ancient Greek lunchbox.
Kerry Somers shows how teaching for creativity can be applied in Key Stage 2 history through a unit about the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for England in which pupils created their own Lego set depicting the Viking era.
Cheryl Burton shows how teaching for creativity can be applied in Key Stage 1/2 art and design in a unit that explores the value of ‘junk’ resulting in the production of pupils’ unique junk sculptures, produced as though they were professional artists and ‘sold’ at auction.
The case examples can be accessed here.
February 2025: Creativity Collaborative team welcomes Postdoctoral Fellow
The Creativity Collaborative team at the University of Winchester welcomes Dr Jean-Christophe Goulet-Pelletier as a Postdoctoral Fellow. After completing his PhD at the University of Ottawa, Jean-Christophe took up a postdoctoral position at the University of Montreal, working on the education and health of children. His work at Winchester will focus on the link between teaching for creativity and impacts on pupils’ knowledge networks, creativity and learning, and is funded by a two-year grant from Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies (FRQNT).
September 2024: Creativity Collaborative Legacy Phase funding awarded
Our Creativity Collaborative has been awarded two additional years' funding by Arts Council England to further embed, deepen and spread our teaching for creativity. We will be focusing on developing:
1) Approaches to assessing and evidencing progress in teaching and learning for creativity in the classroom.
2) A teaching for creativity professional learning programme that draws on the learning and evidence from our initial three years work.
3) Hub schools that provide showcase opportunities for schools and teachers to visit and see our approach to teaching for creativity in action.
July 2024: Teaching for creativity in history article published
A new article has been published in Primary History that describes how teaching for creativity can be implemented in primary history classes, along with three case studies of what it looks like in practice using our Creativity Navigator framework of teaching for creativity.
To cite the Navigator:
From: Sowden, P. T., Seymour, M,. Warren, F., Spencer, E., Mansfield, S., & Martin, C. (2023). Winchester and Halterworth Creativity Collaborative First Research Report: Context, Knowledge, Agency, Pedagogies and Leadership for Creativity in Schools.
July 2024: Wild Hampshire Project
The Wild Hampshire Project, a collaboration between the Creativity Collaborative and The Grange Festival Learning showcased Professor Paul Sowden’s investigation into nurturing creativity across primary education. The project saw 350 children from 11 primary school groups exploring sustainability and environmental challenges on their doorstep, from woodlands and grasslands to the Solent coastline and our unique chalk streams. They discussed and debated the environmental challenges using music, creative writing, design and dance as vehicles for expression, and shared their opinions, emotions and ideas for a more sustainable future.
25 Jan. 2024: Creativity - what it is, why it matters and what you can do to cultivate it in schools
This event, a collaboration with the University’s Centre for Real-World Learning, brought together four key researchers and educators from the University of Winchester and school leaders and teachers from schools across Hampshire to explore:
- Creativity in schools across the world
- The Creativity Collaboratives in England
- University researchers and schools working together
- The leadership of creativity in schools