Aberdeen Building Bridges case study
PDF file: Aberdeen Building Bridges case studyBankhead Academy and Stonewood Primary School
Bankhead Academy is a six-year comprehensive with a roll of 550. Situated on the outskirts of Aberdeen, it has an extensive and diverse catchment area and enjoys good links with its five associated primaries. There is a history of joint planning stretching back many years.
Focusing on the importance of poetry in the development of language, the study investigated ways in which this medium could promote independent learning through listening and talking, a better understanding of the writer’s craft and a general improvement in creative writing skills.
Ranging over a variety of forms from ballads to rap and haiku, the children explored the relationship between form and meaning, which they then transferred to their own poetry writing. A break was taken from poetry writing to enable the author to investigate improvement in creative writing. The conclusion was that creativity had been enhanced as had pupil confidence in talking about additional forms of writing.
A most successful poetry evening brought the study to a celebratory conclusion with children performing and displaying their poems before an invited audience of parents and fellow poets. The group’s progress is currently being monitored, a similar poetry programme is being developed for S2 and another associated primary is already on board.