Creative Amplify sits at the Creative row and the Amplify column of the PICRAT grid. Students are making something, and the technology adds to it: a voice, layers, an audience or a round of feedback.

Voice is the most common addition. Year 1 read aloud every page of their own version of Handa's Surprise. Year 10 record a two-voice podcast debate on duality in Jekyll and Hyde. Year 13 make a four-episode French podcast series for Year 9 learners.

Layering is another. One Year 9 voice sings and stacks a four-part round in Soundtrap. Year 9 try rival colour schemes for a Fauvist harbour scene on separate Procreate layers.

And there is audience: a GCSE art portfolio site with voice-over on each piece, or a Padlet map of local landmarks with children's recorded explanations. In all of these the product would still exist without the technology, as an essay, a performance or a sketchbook. It would reach fewer people, and it would be harder to revise.

Art

Grade 6 weekly observation sketches reviewed through Procreate's time-lapse replay

Grade 6 (Year 7, age 11 to 12) · 180 min · 1 iPad per student plus stylus

Creative Amplify

Over half a term, each student makes one observation drawing a week in Procreate and watches its time-lapse replay to see how they built it.

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Grade 7 'sense of place' collage in Canva with a recorded soundscape

Grade 7 (Year 8, age 12 to 13) · 100 min · 1 iPad per student plus stylus and headphones

Creative Amplify

Each student builds a Canva collage about a place in school from three photographs, two of their own drawings and a 20-second sound recording of that place.

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Grade 8 Fauvist harbour scene with rival colour schemes on Procreate layers

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 60 min · 1 iPad per student plus stylus

Creative Amplify

Each student paints a harbour scene after André Derain, testing a natural and a Fauvist colour scheme on separate layers before choosing one.

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Grade 8 photo essay on 'traces of use' timed to music in Adobe Express

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 100 min · 1 device per student plus headphones

Creative Amplify

Each student photographs eight to ten images on one theme and edits them into a short Adobe Express video with captions, timed to music chosen for tone.

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GCSE art portfolio site with time-lapse clips and voice-over on each piece

Grade 10 (Year 11, age 15 to 16) · 180 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Students build a Google Sites portfolio of the term's work, with a time-lapse clip of each piece in progress and a recorded commentary on intentions and choices.

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Grade 11 Procreate painting that changes each day of the summer show by visitors' votes

Grade 11 (Year 12, age 16 to 17) · 180 min · 1 iPad per student, plus a screen at the show

Creative Amplify

During the summer show, each student duplicates their Procreate painting every day and paints two rival next stages from the same point, visitors vote between them in Mentimeter, and the winner becomes the base for the next day.

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A-Level show labels on tablets replaying each work's making and rejected versions

Grade 12 (Year 13, age 17 to 18) · 180 min · 1 tablet per student

Creative Amplify

For the end-of-year show, each student makes a short video label that plays beside their physical work, showing its making, the compositions they rejected and their own spoken statement.

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Computing

Each child programs their own ScratchJr version of Aesop's race, setting speeds and a sleep for the hare, then tests and debugs it until the tortoise crosses the line first.

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Drama

Grade 8 groups record a three-minute radio drama in the style of The War of the Worlds

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 150 min · 1 device per group of 3-4, with headsets

Creative Amplify

Groups script and record a three-minute radio drama told through invented news bulletins, layering voices, sound effects and silence in one shared Soundtrap project.

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Design and technology

Grade 9 festival-wear designs drawn over a croquis layer in Procreate

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 60 min · 1 iPad per student plus stylus

Creative Amplify

Each student draws three annotated festival-wear designs on separate layers over one locked figure template in Procreate, and tests two colourways for the strongest.

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English

Each child writes and draws their own four-page version of Eileen Browne's Handa's Surprise with new animals and fruits, then records themselves reading every page and listens back to fix missing words.

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Grade 1 expanded noun phrases for Max's forest, improved together on a class Padlet

Grade 1 (Year 2, age 6 to 7) · 45 min · 1 tablet per group of 3

Creative Amplify

Groups write a sentence describing the forest that grows in Max's bedroom in Where the Wild Things Are, post it to a private class Padlet on the board, then improve it after the class compares every sentence.

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Grade 1 fruit kebab instructions with step photos, shared with families through Seesaw

Grade 1 (Year 2, age 6 to 7) · 60 min · 1 tablet per group of 3-4

Creative Amplify

Groups make fruit kebabs and photograph each step, then every child writes their own numbered instructions in Seesaw, and the teacher shares selected posts with families, whose comments children read next morning.

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Persuasive writing: a 60-second radio appeal for charity week recorded in Soundtrap

Grade 6 (Year 7, age 11 to 12) · 120 min · 1 device per group of 3

Creative Amplify

Groups of three turn a written appeal for the school's charity week into a 60-second radio advert in Soundtrap, redrafting the script each time they hear it played back, and the chosen adverts are played in assembly.

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Analysing a poem: Book Creator anthology spread with a recorded reading and a commentary

Grade 7 (Year 8, age 12 to 13) · 100 min · 1 device per pair, with headsets

Creative Amplify

Pairs make a two-page Book Creator spread on one poem from the unit, with their own recorded reading and a commentary on three of the poet's choices, for an anthology the other Grade 7 classes revise from.

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Grade 7 persuasive paragraphs on school climate action, revised after peer comments

Grade 7 (Year 8, age 12 to 13) · 60 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Students draft a 150-word persuasive paragraph in a shared class Doc, three named peers comment using a fixed frame, and each writer revises before the bell.

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Grade 7 'Private Peaceful' book report slides with a recorded read-aloud

Grade 7 (Year 8, age 12 to 13) · 100 min · 1 device per student plus headphones

Creative Amplify

Each student builds a six-slide PowerPoint report on Michael Morpurgo's 'Private Peaceful', including an audio clip of themselves reading a key passage.

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Grade 8 90-second podcast review of 'Of Mice and Men' recorded in GarageBand

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 100 min · 1 device per student plus headphones and a mic

Creative Amplify

Each student scripts and records a 90-second review of 'Of Mice and Men', reading two quotations aloud over a music bed chosen for the novel's tone.

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Grade 8 annotated web page on 'Dulce et Decorum Est' with a recorded reading

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 100 min · 1 device per student plus headphones

Creative Amplify

Each student builds a Google Sites page on Owen's poem with their own recorded reading, six tap-to-open annotations and a 200-word essay.

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Two-voice podcast debate on duality in Jekyll and Hyde

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 100 min · 1 device per pair (two voices are part of the task)

Creative Amplify

Pairs record a podcast episode in which each partner argues a different reading of duality in Stevenson's novella, backed by quotations read aloud.

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Grade 10 argument web page on a global issue, with video commentary and linked sources

Grade 10 (Year 11, age 15 to 16) · 180 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Students argue a thesis on a contemporary issue as a Google Sites page, with a short video commentary, links to two primary sources and an argument map that jumps to the evidence.

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Pre-K autumn treasure pages in Seesaw: a photo and a sentence in their own voice

Pre-K (Early Years, age 3 to 5) · 25 min · 1 tablet per group of 3, with an adult

Creative Amplify

After an autumn hunt in the school grounds, each child photographs one treasure and records a sentence describing it in their Seesaw journal, then the teacher shares selected pages with families.

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Geography

Grade 3 habitat map of the school grounds in Google Earth, one zone per pair

Grade 3 (Year 4, age 8 to 9) · 80 min · 1 device per pair

Creative Amplify

Fifteen pairs each survey one habitat zone across a week, then add a placemark to a shared Google Earth project with photos of what they found and their own notes.

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Padlet map of our local landmarks with children's recorded explanations

Grade 4 (Year 5, age 9 to 10) · 80 min · 1 device per child

Creative Amplify

Each child pins four public landmarks on a class Padlet map, adding a photo and a short recorded explanation of what happens there.

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Pairs write and illustrate a six-page Book Creator book following one drop of water round the water cycle, recording their own narration on each page for Grade 1 to listen to.

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360 tour of school grounds microclimates with children's readings and commentary

Grade 5 (Year 6, age 10 to 11) · 100 min · Shared 360 camera per group of 4; 1 device per pair for building

Creative Amplify

Groups measure temperature and wind at six spots in the school grounds, take a 360 photo at each, and build a CoSpaces Edu tour where visitors click to hear why each spot is warmer, colder or more sheltered.

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360-degree tour of a river fieldwork site with measurements at each stop

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 180 min · 1 device per student; one 360 camera per group on the fieldwork day

Creative Amplify

After a river fieldwork day, students build a CoSpaces Edu tour from 360 photos of four sites, with their width, depth and velocity data and a recorded commentary at each.

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Google Earth story-map of one local regeneration scheme, then and now

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 120 min · 1 device per student; school tablets on the site visit

Creative Amplify

After a class visit to one regeneration site, each student builds a Google Earth project that pairs historical imagery with their own photos and data at five waypoints.

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Google Sites page comparing rainforest and hot desert climates, with embedded charts

Grade 10 (Year 11, age 15 to 16) · 180 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Students build a web page comparing a tropical rainforest and a hot desert, with climate graphs embedded from Google Sheets and collapsible explanations beside each.

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History

Groups of three build a six-stop Google Earth project along the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, writing at each placemark what stood in Stephenson's way and how it was overcome, then test it on another group.

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Causes of the First World War: two-voice Soundtrap podcast on German responsibility

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 100 min · 1 device per pair, with headsets

Creative Amplify

Pairs script and record a five-minute Soundtrap podcast in which one voice argues Fischer's case against Germany and the other Clark's 'sleepwalkers' case, re-recording until each argument lands.

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Padlet timeline of local memories from 1970 to 2000, with recorded interview clips

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 120 min · 1 device per student; school tablets for recording

Creative Amplify

After interviewing community volunteers at a staffed oral-history afternoon, each student builds a timeline of eight events with the witnesses' recorded voices beside the historical context.

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Twine decision story on the Cuban Missile Crisis, built from ExComm sources

Grade 10 (Year 11, age 15 to 16) · 180 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Students write a Twine story in which the reader advises Kennedy at three points in October 1962, and each option opens a primary source the reader must weigh before choosing.

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Maths

Equivalent fractions: Book Creator page explaining a fraction family, with voice

Grade 3 (Year 4, age 8 to 9) · 50 min · 1 tablet per child

Creative Amplify

Each child makes a page for a class Book Creator book, drawing one fraction family and recording a spoken explanation, which families and Grade 2 then hear.

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Pairs write three rectangle riddles that each have exactly one answer, post them on a private Padlet wall, and read the answers that pairs in the other Grade 4 class add underneath.

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Grade 10 write a Grade 9 revision guide on the nth term of quadratic sequences

Grade 10 (Year 11, age 15 to 16) · 50 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Students write a one-page revision guide for Grade 9 on finding the nth term of a quadratic sequence, with their own worked example and practice questions, and Gemini on hand to explain a step.

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Languages (MFL)

Grade 9 French 90-word holiday answer redrafted after Copilot flags errors

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 50 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Students write a practice 90-word answer about a past holiday, ask Copilot to flag up to five errors without correcting them, fix each one themselves and hand in the redraft with changes highlighted.

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AR exhibition of Hispanic festivals placed around the school grounds for Grade 8 visitors

Grade 11 (Year 12, age 16 to 17) · 200 min · 1 device per student; school tablets for AR viewing

Creative Amplify

Students build a 3D exhibit on a festival from the Spanish-speaking world in CoSpaces Edu, with recorded Spanish commentary, and Grade 8 visitors view each one in AR at a marked spot in the grounds.

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Four-episode French podcast series made for the school's Grade 8 learners

Grade 12 (Year 13, age 17 to 18) · 240 min · 1 device per pair (the dialogue needs two voices)

Creative Amplify

Pairs script and record four short French podcast episodes on A-level themes, pitched for Grade 8 learners, with two-voice dialogue, a music bed and a glossary for each.

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Music

Grade 4 call-and-response melody built in Chrome Music Lab's Song Maker

Grade 4 (Year 5, age 9 to 10) · 45 min · 1 device per child plus headphones

Creative Amplify

Each child composes an eight-bar melody in Song Maker in which the second phrase answers the first, playing it back and changing notes until the answer sounds finished.

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Grade 5 four-layer body-percussion groove recorded by one child in GarageBand

Grade 5 (Year 6, age 10 to 11) · 50 min · 1 iPad per child plus headphones

Creative Amplify

Each child records four body-percussion ostinatos on separate tracks and layers them into a 16-bar groove that builds up one part at a time.

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Grade 5 GarageBand soundtrack synced to a silent 30-second storm clip

Grade 5 (Year 6, age 10 to 11) · 100 min · 1 iPad per child plus headphones

Creative Amplify

Each child composes a 30-second soundtrack for a teacher-supplied silent storm clip, then lines it up with the video and fixes the places where music and picture do not match.

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Grade 6 groups layer a 90-second forest-dawn soundscape in one Soundtrap project

Grade 6 (Year 7, age 11 to 12) · 50 min · 1 device per student plus headphones

Creative Amplify

Groups of four each build a 90-second forest-dawn soundscape in a shared Soundtrap project, with every student composing one layer.

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Grade 8 four-part round sung and layered by one voice in Soundtrap

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 50 min · 1 device per student plus headphones and a mic

Creative Amplify

Each student records every entry of 'London's Burning' themselves, staggers the entries two bars apart, balances them and adds a part of their own.

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Grade 8 minor-key and rhythmic variations on Ode to Joy notated in Sibelius

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 50 min · 1 computer per student, with headphones

Creative Amplify

Students write two eight-bar variations on the opening of Beethoven's Ode to Joy in Sibelius, one in D minor and one with a new rhythm, playing each back as they notate.

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Grade 9 four-part vocal harmony built from one sung line with Flex Pitch

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 100 min · 1 Mac per student plus headphones and a mic

Creative Amplify

Each student records one vocal melody, then duplicates and re-pitches it in Logic Pro to build three harmony parts over a four-chord backing.

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Grade 9 musique concrète piece from sounds recorded around school

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 100 min · 1 iPad per student plus headphones

Creative Amplify

Students record ten sounds around the school site and turn them into a 90-second musique concrète piece by re-pitching, reversing and layering them in GarageBand.

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Grade 9 practice variations over a ground bass, layered track by track in BandLab

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 100 min · 1 device per student, with headphones and a MIDI keyboard

Creative Amplify

After studying Purcell's Music for a While, Edexcel GCSE students compose three variations over a four-bar ground bass, recording each as its own track in BandLab and revising one after teacher feedback.

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Grade 10 film-trailer cue for strings, woodwind and brass in Logic Pro

Grade 10 (Year 11, age 15 to 16) · 100 min · 1 Mac per student plus headphones and a MIDI keyboard

Creative Amplify

Students compose a 90-second trailer cue for three orchestral sections, hearing each voicing choice as they make it and shaping the mix with reverb.

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Pre-K draw pictures that play as music in Chrome Music Lab's Kandinsky

Pre-K (Early Years, age 3 to 5) · 20 min · 1 tablet per group of 3, with an adult

Creative Amplify

Each child draws lines and shapes in Chrome Music Lab's Kandinsky, presses play to hear their picture as music, then changes the drawing to make it sound like rain or a stomping giant.

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PE

Heart rate and exercise: a narrated cool-down video on recovery in Adobe Express

Grade 7 (Year 8, age 12 to 13) · 100 min · 1 tablet per pair

Creative Amplify

Pairs film a cool-down routine and turn it into a 90-second narrated video in Adobe Express explaining why heart rate should fall gradually, for Grade 6 tutors to show.

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PSHE

Grade 8 vaping-awareness posters redesigned after anonymous feedback from all of Grade 6

Grade 8 (Year 9, age 13 to 14) · 150 min · 1 device per group of 3-4

Creative Amplify

Groups design two versions of a vaping-awareness poster for Grade 6 in Canva, test both with the whole year group through an anonymous Microsoft Form, and redesign from what the responses show.

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Grade 11 two-voice podcast explaining how Plan 5 student loan repayments work

Grade 11 (Year 12, age 16 to 17) · 120 min · 1 school iPad per pair, with headsets

Creative Amplify

Pairs script and record a five-minute podcast episode that explains Plan 5 student loans to Grade 10, answering common myths with worked examples.

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RE

Grade 9 Sutori timeline of the Buddha's life with images of each site and quiz questions

Grade 9 (Year 10, age 14 to 15) · 100 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Students build a Sutori timeline of the Buddha's life from his birth at Lumbini to his parinirvana at Kushinagar, with images of each site and two quiz questions for a classmate.

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Grade 12 staff-hosted video interviews with faith practitioners for a class study

Grade 12 (Year 13, age 17 to 18) · 240 min · 1 device per student

Creative Amplify

Over four lessons, a Grade 12 class interviews four faith practitioners in staff-hosted video calls, analyses anonymised transcripts against A-level content and builds a shared study on a school-only Google Site.

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Science

Pairs script and record a 45-second spoken answer in GarageBand to a question from Grade 1, such as where a puddle goes, re-recording until it is clear enough for six-year-olds to follow.

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Photosynthesis: Adobe Express explainer video for Grade 5 on why plants need light

Grade 7 (Year 8, age 12 to 13) · 100 min · 1 device per group of 3

Creative Amplify

Groups of three script, narrate and edit a 90-second Adobe Express video answering a Grade 5 teacher's question, why do plants need light, for the school's transition day.

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Lessons that look Creative Amplify but sit in another

Useful counter-examples when you are checking your own lesson placement on the PICRAT grid.

This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.