Apply for Creative Schools Initiative – Ireland

The Arts Council leads Creative Schools in partnership with the Department of Education and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. Creative Schools is an important part of the Arts Council’s strategy to plan and provide for children and young people.

Objectives

• Creative Schools supports schools and Youthreach centres to put the arts and creativity at the heart of children’s and young people’s lives.
• Its objectives are to support schools and Youthreach centres to:
  • Empower children and young people to develop, implement and evaluate arts and creative activity throughout their schools/centres.
  • Stimulate additional ways of working that reinforce the impact of creativity on children’s and young people’s learning, development and well-being.
  • Provide opportunities for children and young people to build artistic and creative skills, such as curiosity, imagination, persistence, communication and collaboration.

The Creative Schools method: A guided journey over two years

• Each participating school/centre is assigned a Creative Associate.
• The Creative Associate works with the school/centre to carry out an analysis of their current engagement with the arts and creativity. This is a whole-school conversation.
• The Creative Associate encourages the school community to use creative ways to engage everyone in this process.
• Informed by this analysis and shared understanding, the school community then creates a Creative Schools Plan unique to their school/centre.

Support

They provide participating schools/centres with the following package of supports:

• A once-off grant of €4,000 (in total) towards implementation of their plan in the two school years 2024–25 and 2025–26.
• A Creative Associate who advises and supports their assigned school/centre for a maximum of nine days in each of the two school years.
• Training for the teacher nominated by their school/centre as the Creative Schools Coordinator. One-day substitution cover per year per school is paid to facilitate their attendance. This training also provides the opportunity to meet other participating schools/centres and the Creative Schools team.
• Participation in Creative February, a national celebration of the arts and creativity.

What activity can you use the funding for?

• The funding is to support schools/centres to implement their Creative Schools Plan. Schools/centres decide how they want to use the funding in consultation with their Creative Associate.
• You should aim to achieve the ideas that you generate from discussions and creative engagement with staff, children and young people, families, and the wider community. This may include but is not limited to:
  • Creative methods to develop arts and creativity policies and plans
  • Working with artists and/or creative practitioners
  • Exploring creative ways to teach and learn
  • Arts and creative professional development for teachers
  • Enhancing creativity in curriculum delivery across diverse subjects
  • Connecting arts and creativity to well-being indicators
  • Engaging with local arts and creative organisations

What commitment do participating schools/centres need to make?

As part of their participation, schools/centres need to:

• Nominate a Creative Schools Coordinator for participation in the initiative. This must be a principal or teacher currently employed in the school/centre.
• Commit that your Creative Schools Coordinator will attend all the required training courses. Note: one-day substitution cover per year per school/centre will be paid to facilitate Creative Schools Coordinators’ attendance at required training courses.
• Ensure that your Creative Schools Coordinator has significant time to work with your assigned Creative Associate throughout the duration of the initiative. Note: there is no substitution payment available for these ongoing activities.
• Mobilise the school/centre community to engage with the Creative Schools initiative.
• Commit to giving significant time and resources to developing, implementing and evaluating your Creative Schools Plan. This includes drawing on the time of staff, children and young people, families and the Board of Management.

What is your school/centre applying for?

• Creative Schools 2024 is a two-year developmental programme.
• During the programme, participating schools/centres develop a Creative Schools Plan for their school/centre, and begin to implement it.

Who is the applicant for Creative Schools?

• The applicant is the school/centre.
• They can only pay any grant offered into a bank account held in the name of the school/centre.

Who is eligible to apply to Creative Schools?

• All Department of Education recognised primary and post-primary schools and Youthreach centres in the Free Education Scheme that have not already participated in a previous round of Creative Schools.
• Note about the Creative Clusters initiative
  • Eligible schools/centres may apply to both Creative Schools 2024 and Creative Clusters 2024. Creative Clusters is an initiative of the Department of Education, led by and in partnership with the twenty-one full-time Teacher Education Centres (Education Support Centres Ireland – ESCI) and funded through the Schools Excellence Fund.
  • However, schools/centres cannot participate in both Creative Schools and Creative Clusters at the same time. This means schools/centres that apply successfully to both initiatives can only accept an offer from either Creative Schools 2024 or Creative Clusters 2024.

Not Eligible to Apply to Creative Schools

• Schools/centres that have already participated in a previous round of Creative Schools are not eligible to apply.
• Crèches, playgroups, preschools, Early Start Units and naíonraí are not eligible to apply to Creative Schools.

For more information, visit The Arts Council.