Building a lived ethos that is ever-evolving and truly represents the learners, families, and staff at Dounby School requires ongoing commitment, collaboration, and adaptability. Ownership and belonging are core to everyone in our school and we needed a way that we could visualise where we were so as to move to what we can be and evolve to become.
Creative visualisation scaffolds our educational environment where metacognitive skills are nurtured, active participation is encouraged, and learners are empowered to shape their educational journeys. This approach prepares everyone across our learning community for success in learning, life, and work, while fostering a strong sense of ownership and belonging within the school community. Our curriculum has no ceiling, our learning community exudes endless possibilities and our learners truly lead.
We use creative modelling to physically represent our ideas and opinions about an area for development, then envision and build a shared understanding of this can become. We focus on not only the tangible elements but also the emotions, leading to shared presentations of the symbolism and meaning behind their creations. This actively facilitate an open discussion where everyone can ask questions, provide feedback, and explore common themes to generate innovative improvement steps.
We are now mentoring 2 schools in our local authority and 8 across Scotland, with partnerships within the Creative Learning Network and beyond. We link with everyone we can encourage to be part of our journey, from the National Galleries in Edinburgh, to our very own Bob journeying around on a Grand Tour of Scotland to promote creativity and creative thinking (https://dounbycommunityschool.blogspot.com/2023/07/national-galleries-of-scotland-2772023.html).
At the National Galleries, we have spoken to teachers from as far away as Canada to people visiting from Africa. We are supporting this through our school's website, Twitter and other social media accounts. Our exhibition of how Bob became Dounby and Dounby became Bob has had more visitors to date than the Grason Perry exhibition!
Be brave, make time, have conversations, create and just give this a go! Come and visit Orkney and see just how by making a wee model of what our learners felt about their school has turned into something that is beyond out wildest beliefs!
Check out our website (https://dounbycommunityschool.blogspot.com/) and our Twitter (https://twitter.com/SchoolDounby) or just pick up the phone!
