SOUTH Side primary pupils have taken part in a digital creativity programme to help explore their community.

St Marnock’s has been a partner in a digital creativity pilot programme led by The Glasgow School of Art.

The programme, which is aimed at helping pupils develop their digital creativity, saw teachers, pupils and researchers from the School of Simulation & Visualisation at the GSA co-design two different projects for the young people to work on.

In Covid and Me that aim was for the children to develop a digital output describing what it has been like for them during covid.

In My Cultural Heritage, pupils were asked to develop a digital output describing a local heritage or cultural place of interest.

Professor Steve Love who has been leading the programme for The Glasgow School of Art said: "We need to value and nurture our young people’s creativity.

"As well as being a driver of economic growth there is increasing evidence that by developing creativity and creative thinking young people can show improvement in all academic disciplines and also become more confident, having the skills to thrive both in the world of work and in broader society

"It’s been a great pleasure to work with the teachers and pupils at St Marnock’s Primary.

St Marnocks Primary

St Marnock's Primary

"We learned a lot from the collaboration and hope that the pupils found the experience as fulfilling as we did."

The pupils at St Marnock’s chose to focus on My Cultural Heritage, investigating historic trees around the Pollok Park area; using photography and textiles to explore their local area; and photographing and filming contents of a “Cabinet of Curiosity”.

Teacher Paula Walker said: "We are delighted to be part of this innovative digital art programme.

"Our children will benefit enormously from the specialist input from GSA and we have enjoyed working in animation, new digital technology and look forward to sharing our excellent work with others."

Following the successful pilot project the GSA will develop the. initiative further through the creation of an outline programme to allow primary school teachers to obtain a Career Long Professional Learning (CLPL) qualification in creative thinking.

The plan is also to develop this work to include nursery schools and secondary schools.