TWO very different schools which won a shared grant from the Arts Council of £90,000 now hope to learn from each other’s approaches.

St Ambrose College in Altrincham and Egerton High School, Urmston, will receive £45,000 each over three years to improve the teaching of creative subjects.

At first glance the schools would appear to have little in common.

While St Ambrose is a grammar school, preparing 1,000 boys for university life and the working world, Egerton High takes up to 40 pupils with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

They are referred there by the local authority with the aim of helping them return to mainstream education, teaching them social skills and building their self-esteem.

Jason Butcher, assistant headteacher at Egerton, said: "When mainstream education becomes difficult due to the additional needs of our young people we are asked to provide educational support, take over and utilise radically different approaches in our teaching and learning.

"We enable children to explore the curriculum through film making and the broad range of multi-disciplinary skills this involves."

St Ambrose headteacher Michael Thompson said the grammar school had much to learn from the teachers at Egerton High.

He said: "Their work is extraordinarily impressive and I am sure we could gain from their innovative approach."

Mr Butcher says that Egerton will use its funding to investigate current teaching practice and to continue its use of creative specialists who come into the school to share their expertise.

Egerton pupil Jack Greenhalgh, 14, a budding musician, said: "I found traditional subjects boring, but it’s fun to make music and films."

Crystal Garwood, 16, who made her own mini animation film on a computer, said: "I enjoyed making my film – it required a lot of concentration and focus."

St Ambrose will use the funding to enable pupils to produce creative work to adorn their new £22.5 million school buildings, construction of which is expected to start shortly. Both schools submitted applications for funding to the Arts Council’s Creative Partnerships programme, the aim of which is to raise young people’s aspirations and achievements.

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