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Education

Fostering Creativity in Education: StateOfWriting’s Best Practice

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Creativity is the beating heart of education, but finding an effective way to nurture creative thinking can be difficult. StateOfWriting encourages you, as an educator, and your students to unleash your creative sides with the following five practical strategies to enhance creativity in education.

1. Embrace Interdisciplinary Learning

Education stays isolated when topics are kept separate and are not mixed like ingredients in a smoothie – only when that happens is creativity born. Encourage children to find connections between subjects like art and science or history and technology. StateOfWriting is one free resource where educators can order custom-created assignments that mix the two, and students can get custom writing online. You would never expect algebra to help create a masterpiece, but sometimes, it could. 

2. Create a Safe Space for Experimentation

In case you forgot, creativity is a messy process. It’s adding a pinch of mayhem so you can discover something that works. Support an environment where students can feel psychologically safe with experimentation and failure. Teach learners that there is no creation without experimentation and no success without trial and error. Students must learn not to fear the failing grade, but instead fear the missed opportunity to learn something new. Your classroom must be a safe zone where there are no bad ideas and no stone will be left unturned in search of wisdom.

3. Encourage Divergent Thinking

Ever heard of thinking outside the box? Teach your learners to destroy the box altogether – that’s even better. Divergent thinking is about finding more than one solution to a problem; even the wildest and craziest solutions that a person might think are bananas can work in mysterious ways, and that’s actually how most inventions were born. Appropriate prompts and exercises can encourage students to think outside the box when brainstorming ideas. With StateOfWriting, students can polish those wild ideas into structured essays or consolidated arguments that can make even the harshest cynics go: “Hmm. Maybe there is something to their idea after all”. 

4. Integrate Technology in Creative Projects

Tech creativity? That doesn’t sound right, does it? But it can be! To make the most of creative assignments, provide students with digital tools and platforms where they can create. A digital museum exhibit, for example, or a multimedia presentation created with images, video, text, and music that illuminate a topic of study. Teach learners how to use these tools and platforms, helping your charges not only meet academic standards but also expand them creatively, shaping new possibilities.

5. Celebrate Diversity of Expression

There are more shades of creativity than you could find in a rainbow. Let your students express themselves in ways that are authentic to them: writing, drawing, music, dancing, and anything in between. StateOfWriting is here to support students beyond essay writing – we celebrate creativity in all forms and strive to offer resources that empower students to express themselves authentically. Be unapologetically yourself when working on your assignments, and the result will pleasantly surprise both you and your professors.

Unleashing the Creative Spark

Creativity isn’t just a buzzword. It’s the other side of learning, the spark in the corner of the professor’s eye, the impulse behind the kid asking questions. When educators turn thought into action and philosophy into exploration, students embrace the learning process. Interdisciplinary studies, safe spaces and playful experimentation, divergent thinking, technology, and the embrace of difference — these are the tools of creativity. With the help of StateOfWriting’s tools and tutors, educators can turn learning and assessment into a creative experience that lights the fires of innovation in every student.

Charity

Royal visit celebrates Pembrokeshire charity’s community impact

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STAFF, volunteers and visiting pupils at Lower Treginnis Farm were delighted to welcome a very special guest on Wednesday (April 2), as Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited the site in support of the charity Farms for City Children.

The Princess Royal, who has served as Patron of the charity since 1991, spent the afternoon touring the farm, which lies just outside St Davids and is the most westerly farm in Wales. It was her fourth visit to the site since first attending in 2010.

Farms for City Children was founded by author and former Children’s Laureate Sir Michael Morpurgo and Lady Clare Morpurgo. The charity provides immersive week-long farming experiences for urban children, helping them connect with nature, food production and rural life.

HRH The Princess Royal with pupils from Pembroke Dock Community School and Farm School Leader Jess Willcox (Pic: Supplied)

During the visit, The Princess Royal met children from Pembroke Dock Community School as they took part in hands-on farm activities including grooming donkeys, feeding rare-breed piglets, and planting vegetables in the market garden.

She also joined the children for a coastal workshop led by Câr y Môr, Wales’ first regenerative seaweed and shellfish farm, which operates just off the nearby shoreline.

Her Royal Highness was accompanied on her tour by Gethin Jones, Farm School Manager, and later met members of The Friends of Treginnis—a local fundraising group that has supported the charity since 1991. Over the past three years, the group has raised more than £30,000 to help schools from across Pembrokeshire, including Pembroke Dock Community School, take part in the farm’s week-long programmes.

HRH The Princess Royal meeting Farms for City Children staff and partner farmer Aled Davies (Pic: Supplied)

Before departing, The Princess Royal was introduced to members of the charity’s staff and to Aled Davies, the farm’s local partner farmer. She was then presented with a gift of fresh farm produce by two pupils, Erin Hubbard and Jack Kinnard.

Tim Rose, Head of Operations for Farms for City Children, said: “We were delighted to welcome The Princess Royal to Lower Treginnis and to share the experience of being ‘farmers for a week’ with her. Her visit was greatly enjoyed by everyone at the farm and it was our pleasure to be able to show her how the work of the charity interacts with so many different aspects of the Pembrokeshire community.

Car-y-Mor workshop-with children from Pembroke Dock Community School (Pic: Supplied)

“We are hugely appreciative of Her Royal Highness’s continued support and enthusiasm for the work that we do.”

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Education

Wales’ top talent on road to ‘skills Olympics’ in China

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Quarter of UK training squad from Welsh colleges

STUDENTS and apprentices from colleges across Wales are competing for a place on Team UK at the WorldSkills competition in Shanghai next year – often referred to as the ‘skills Olympics’.

Of the 80 young people selected by WorldSkills UK and Pearson to take part in the 18-month training programme, 20 are from Wales – making up around a quarter of the team.

WorldSkills is considered the ultimate global test of vocational and technical excellence, and the 2026 event in Shanghai will be the first time China has hosted the prestigious contest. Over 1,500 competitors from more than 80 countries are expected to take part, showcasing skills in disciplines ranging from engineering and digital technologies to hospitality and the creative industries. The event will be watched by more than 250,000 spectators.

The UK will compete in over 30 disciplines, including 3D Digital Game Art, Robot Systems Integration, and Renewable Energy.

One of those selected for the UK’s training squad is Madeleine Warburton, 19, a student at Coleg Llandrillo’s Rhyl Campus. Madeleine won silver in Renewable Energy at the UK national finals in 2024.

She said: “I wanted to expand my knowledge within the renewable sector outside of college and work – to help improve my skills for when I go on site, learn more about solar, and meet like-minded people.

“I would definitely encourage anyone to compete. No matter how far you get in the process, it’s a huge benefit. I’ve learnt so much and developed transferable skills. My confidence has grown massively, and I’ve made friends for life.”

Minister for Skills, Jack Sargeant, said: “We have so much to look forward to in skills competitions in Wales. Between hosting the WorldSkills UK Finals in November and seeing this strong cohort working towards Shanghai, our economic future is in good hands.

“With 20 Welsh competitors in the mix, Wales is showing once again that a small nation can make a big impact. This is a long process – but I wish ‘pob lwc’ to everyone aiming for final selection.”

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Education

Families urged to claim up to £200 per child for school essentials

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Thousands still eligible before application window closes on 31 May

FAMILIES across Wales are being urged to apply for the School Essentials Grant before the deadline on Saturday, 31 May, 2025, with up to £200 available per child to help cover the rising costs of school-related expenses.

The Welsh Government’s grant offers £125 for each eligible learner and £200 for those entering Year 7, acknowledging the higher costs associated with starting secondary school.

Uniforms, coats, shoes, stationery, sports kits, musical instruments, and equipment for after-school clubs are among the many essentials the grant can help pay for.

Currently, 90% of those eligible have already applied – but thousands of families across Wales could still be missing out on vital financial support.

What is the School Essentials Grant?

The grant is part of a wider support package for low-income families, children in care, and those seeking asylum. It is available to all eligible learners aged 4 to 16 in any school setting, including special schools and pupil referral units.

To qualify, parents must receive one or more of the following benefits:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • Guaranteed element of Pension Credit
  • Child Tax Credit (with no Working Tax Credit, and annual income under £16,190 before tax)
  • Working Tax Credit run-on (for four weeks after stopping qualifying)
  • Universal Credit (with annual net earned income under £7,400, excluding benefits)

Even if a child already receives Free School Meals, families must still check their eligibility separately to access the School Essentials Grant.

Beth Williams, a teacher at Maesyrhandir CP School in Newtown, said: “The School Essentials Grant is a massive help to parents. We all know how hard it is, especially if you’ve got more than one child, to buy all the things that they need, and it all comes at once.”

Support for schools too

As well as the direct financial support to families, schools also benefit from the Pupil Development Grant (PDG), which helps reduce barriers to learning by providing additional resources.

Caroline Bufton, Headteacher at Maesyrhandir CP School, explained: “It’s very important for parents to check their eligibility because this allows us to have funding which is vital to supporting their children.”

How to apply

Applications must be made through the local authority, and families can apply every year for each eligible child. The current application window closes on Saturday, 31 May, 2025.

Eligible families will receive:

  • £125 per child in primary or secondary school
  • £200 per child entering Year 7

To check eligibility and apply, visit: gov.wales/get-help-school-costs

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