Our school has reported Ed (head of the art department) for gross misconduct for speaking out against the school's policies and he has to attend a disciplinary hearing on July 1st. This could mean Ed's instant dismissal.
Yep. Gone. We've lost one art teacher already, and art funding has been cut enough as it is - we CANNOT afford to lose Ed. If we do then the department is as good as gone.
If you want to help can you please, please, sign our petition. The more evidence we can get of support from both pupils and parents, the better our chance of saving the art department.
Dear Sir/Madam,
Creativity is defined as the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness. Isn’t this something we should be encouraging in children today? To be inventive, to explore and develop their own ideas into something beautiful? To allow them a creative outlet? And most of all, to give them guidance, and support, and advice in doing so?
Art teachers teach creativity and innovation, and Mr. Edwards is no exception. He teaches multiple answers to problems. He encourages mistakes and experimentation. He teaches students to be thinkers – not memorizers. When I created the petition to spread the word on Ed’s dismissal, I woke up the following morning to 500 signatures and counting. The next day, we hit 1,000. At the time of writing, we are almost at 1,500. Tell me – if his dismissal was truly justified, if he was seen as a burden to our school’s educational system, would we really have this many people signing and pleading for him to stay? Would industry professionals in London be crediting him for their success? Would mothers and fathers be pleading against the system to keep him, as they feel their child would be in a much worse position had they not been given this creative outlet and freedom of expression by him?
Losing Sadie was a huge blow to our department, and our motivation as students. And yet, we as students persevered, as did Mr. Edwards and Mrs. Harper. We came together and continued to express ourselves within our department, despite the continued uncertainty surrounding its future. We assured children in the younger years that they would have the opportunities we had, we encouraged each other to continue to do what we loved. And all this was orchestrated under the watchful eyes of Mrs. Harper and Mr. Edwards, who continued to guide us and develop our creative abilities beyond anything we could ever imagine.
This petition was not made to cause trouble. This petition was made to give everyone a voice on the topic – primarily those who would be affected the most. It was made to give our teacher another chance of doing what he loves, of nurturing artistic ability in students for years to come.
Don’t kill creativity, nurture it.
Eleanor Sutcliffe
