Through doing and making, students are grappling with provocative and meaningful concepts. They are exercising empathy in a more realised way because they are having to make creative decisions about how to tell this story and how to convey the complex emotions involved in risky behaviours - the thrill and excitement, the risk and bravery and then the betrayal and grief.
Read MoreOne of the best things about being called ‘platinum’ is the symbolism. Platinum is considered valuable for a few reasons. People wrongly think it is the strongest metal - in fact, it is malleable (more flexible than gold). It’s ‘strength’ comes from it’s stable nature. It is not reactive, making it an excellent vessel for reactions. It is an effective crucible. Indeed, platinum is most commonly used to make catalytic converters due to it ‘containing’ properties. How brilliant is this metaphor? This is precisely what I hope ESA can be - a safe and stable container for alchemy and magic.
Read MoreAlthough a little disrupted by a global pandemic, our Artsmark journey has been rather remarkable. We have found our thing… we know that we are up to something. Following the creation of our strategic cultural education plan, we are seeing impact. We have become a more confident and articulate school with a more honest and realised creative vision. We are better balanced with both meaningful content and vibrant style.
Read MoreCuriosity is the space between boredom and a new idea. It is the energy that pushes that new idea along until it becomes a well researched and carefully considered creative action. Curiosity is the engine room of imagination and innovation.
Read MoreAt ESA, we include watching films, TV and theatre as reading. Similarly all forms of textual interpretation including listening to music, researching and analysing art are a form of 'reading' but all of it requires confident multimedia literacy. All of that cultural magic, wonder and reverie starts with reading and loving good stories and writing - in all their forms.
Read MoreWe’re all about that magic moment at ESA and this year we start a new day of further expansion. There is more to follow but ESA is building on our story… now, as we begin our 10th year, we are building on the integrity we have established in cultivating that magic instant when a young person unfurls their creative wings and ‘owns’ their own creative moment.
Read MoreHere at ESA, we believe in ‘code switching’ - by this we mean our ability to move between different types of communication - the informal and the formal; the implicit and the explicit; the intended and the unintended - all communication is meaningful.
Read MoreReflecting on my story as a child in Lewisham and a young man in Camden, I am struck by how enriched I am by the diversity and dynamism of this incredible city. How such a mashup of styles and influences has inspired me and added to my insight and how the fruit of the Windrush pioneers and their children has made special and valued contributions to my identity as a Londoner. Read more…
Read MoreIt may be too simplistic to say it this way but we really like our students and we want them to know it. We love being with them and knowing them and this comes before our passion for our subject, before our office of hierarchical power. Of course teachers are ‘in charge’, but not because we are superior, rather because we bothered to plan and prepare.
Read MoreThis week we formally began consultation for the transfer of ESA to join the Danes Educational Trust (DET). This has been a long time coming and considerable work has been done to get to this position. We are already good professional friends with our colleagues at the DET and we are excited about this welcome milestone in our school development. We are all expecting the formal transfer to very smooth as we have been progressing towards this for a while and became associate members earlier this year…. it’s finally time to make this official!
Read MoreExciting new partnerships, significant enhancements to our curriculum, 2 films in production, construction works have begun, we’ve finally joined our new trust and we are launching our new virtual open event with a live broadcast online, crewed by our students working with industry partners… coronavirus certainly ain’t slowing us down!
What a wonderful, ambitious and relentless first half term. I apologise for not having blogged since the very start of term. We are now 7 weeks in and I’m determined to catch you all up on a truly high paced half term.
Read MoreAt ESA this year, we are pioneering a new approach to our learning together. Inspired by the work of Bill Lucas and Guy Claxton, we are implementing a ‘split screen’ curriculum where we focus even more on the person we want to become as well as the outcomes we want to achieve. This is more important than ever in these ‘unprecedented’ times. This year (summer 2020), the skewed dependancy on one particular definition of success was proved madness and folly.
Read MoreThese continue to be bizarre times. Ordinarily I would be welcoming all our new prospective students into school for an induction day - a chance to meet us and each other and familiarise themselves with our campus and facilities. Sadly due to lockdown, we can not offer this so our induction needs to be ‘virtual’…
Read MoreExciting times… I have been longing to write this blog for over two years! As many of you know, Elstree UTC has been on a mission to establish itself as a leading school for the provision of specialist training and education for the creative and cultural arts…
Read MoreFollowing my blog post last Friday where I reflected on Raymond William’s ‘Resources of Hope’ and Riz Ahmed’s speech to parliament, a friend and colleague sent me this booklet entitled ‘Strength and Power: The Resource For Black Students’. I find it to be exactly what Raymond Williams was calling for - a ‘resource of hope’…
Read More2020 is truly an extraordinary, and traumatic, year. We’ve had extinction rebellion and the mass demonstrations around the dangers of climate change, we’ve officially left the European Union following a highly divisive national debate, we’re in the throws of a global health pandemic and impending economic and unemployment crisis…
Read MoreWhat and AMAZING topic for assembly this week - ‘Untold Stories’. Where do I even begin… I am a lover and teller of stories, I work in a creative media and production school whose primary purpose is to tell stories. We are sponsored and partnered by one of the greatest factories of storytelling in the world - Elstree Film Studios…
Read MoreMy assembly this week would have been on the theme of COMMUNITY... So I have made you a vlog assembly on youtube. We are really missing you all. Elstree UTC remains a strong and supportive community during this time of physical distancing and national crisis. Make sure that you are remembering to connect online…
Read MoreI made a small video featuring a few faces of the staff here who love you. We know who you are and who you have become and are becoming… your time with us HAS been worthwhile. The relationships and the learning still counts for EVERYTHING. We will celebrate together on the other side of all this physical distancing and self isolation…
Read Moreas a thank you to all our community of staff and students, and in recognition of the very considerable achievement of being formally recognised by Ofsted as a GOOD school, we got everyone a lego brick. It is of course a token - a symbolic gift which says you are a piece to this whole. You have a part in what we are building together…
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