Sir Ken Robinson, an expert on education, innovation and creativity, challenged the way we educate our children, championing a radical rethink of how our school systems cultivate creativity and acknowledging multiple types of intelligence.

His TED Talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” has been watched more than 78 million times since its release in 2006, notes: “People who achieve real greatness don’t fit the formula. They break the mould.” 

"We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson said. It's a message with deep resonance here at RGS where we are a firm believer in creative thinkers. This year at our annual Creative Industries Event, organised by Mrs Francis, which celebrates jobs within this diverse and rewarding industry, we were lucky enough to have a wide range of guest speakers share their experiences with our Year 9’s and how they got to where they are now.

Our guest speakers included:

Steve Forrest Smith, a storyboard and concept artist who has worked on films including, Harry Potter, Wonder Woman and The Mummy to name a few.

Emma Smith, an Executive Producer & Series Editor for Naked/Fremantle, heading up the 'Escape' brand including 'Escape to the Country'.

OW James McDonald, who became a Junior Compositor at Sun & Moon Studios working on Hammer & Bolter and a Warhammer animation series for Netflix. He has just released the first 15 episodes of a new animation on CBeebies called 'Maddie & Triggs' which in the first week received over 1,000,000 views on iPlayer.

We also welcomed back two more recent OWs, Sam Feltham and Tyrone Antoine who are both at Central St Martins, studying Ceramics and Women's Fashion respectively.

Our final speaker is our very own Artist in Residence, Chris Bowen who completed an MA in Ceramics & Glass at RCA and has gone on to produce ceramics for a wide range of clients, including having work featured in 'The Great British Menu' on BBC.

The Year 9's also heard briefly from our current Year 13 Subject Ambassadors who talked to the students about the transferability of Art.

All in all, it was an eye-opening and engaging event.

Worth a watch

The most popular words framing blog posts on Sir Ken Robinson's talk? "Everyone should watch this."