Pupils from a small Cumbrian primary school are developing their speaking, listening and questioning skills through working with practitioners on a Change School project.
The village of Gilsland straddles the border of Cumbria and Northumberland. The school has a total of 23 pupils from reception to year 6 and very good relationships with parents and the community. The school has an ethos where pupils have a say in their own learning through a Plan, Do and Review framework where they work together across the age groups, sharing ideas and supporting each other to achieve.
In 2010, Gilsland ran an Enquiry Project so, as a Change School, they are building on the experience and learning from last year. The staff felt the most pressing educational challenge was to help their children develop their communication skills and be more imaginative and creative when examining the world around them. Following pupil consultation, it was clear that they were interested in using the media of ICT in order to do this and so the project plan was developed. The project aims to develop practical and creative skills -children and staff working and learning together.
A brief for practitioners was sent out across local networks and there was a tremendous response. Two practitioners were invited to deliver a half day session followed by discussion with staff. This gave both the children and the staff a really good idea of how the practitioners worked and highlighted the potential for the project as well as an understanding of the school for the practitioners.
Kim Inglis, a professional TV broadcaster, is currently working with the children so they have the skills to be news reporters. How can we capture local news, weather and interesting stories and turn these into a short film? Planning interview questions, writing a script, finding out information, learning how to speak to camera – the children are discovering what exactly is involved in being a news presenter. Using Flip cameras, they are learning how to plan, download and edit their filming. Armed with these skills, the children have invited local residents to a press conference in the village hall to share their news and stories.
An exciting visit early in the project to the Sunderland University TV studios gave them practical experience of a professional TV studio as well as an opportunity to go ‘live’ on air at the university radio station.
Following this focus on the here and now, the children and staff invited John Rice, a professional poet and storyteller, to help them take some of these news stories into the realms of fantasy and fiction. This will develop the enquiry into different forms of communication using their imagination. Parents and staff will also have the opportunity to develop their own creative writing and poetry in CPD sessions.
To celebrate each aspect of this project and provide a legacy, there will be a community sharing event. This will be professionally filmed and the resulting DVD will be included, along with selected written pieces and images from the project, in a published book.
