WATCH: Journalism project shows lockdown learning for hundreds of Shropshire pupils
An inspiring journalism project has captured the imagination of pupils across Shropshire.
Thirteen schools took part in the initiative organised by Oldbury Wells School in Bridgnorth to design and film their own news clips of what they have learnt throughout lockdown.
More than 120 pupils rose to the challenge during February of creating film clips using their knowledge of the topics they were learning in school. Pupils worked on their scripts, costumes, props and filmed their clips. Some then used their ICT skills to edit and add special graphics and music.
“We had so many wonderfully creative clips from pupils,” said Lee Tristham, headteacher at Oldbury Wells School.
Watch the pupils' work here:
“We designed this project to give pupils an enjoyable and educational activity during lockdown. We were hoping it would be something fun for the family to get involved in if they wished. We also wanted to find a way for pupils to share with each other some of the excellent work they were doing across all of the local schools.”
Participating schools were Oldbury Wells School, Castlefields Primary School, Alveley Primary School, St Leonard’s C.E Primary School, Stokesay Primary School and Church Stretton Secondary School, which make up the TrustEd Schools’ Partnership. Also joining in were Beckbury Primary School, Claverley Primary School, Highley Primary School, Morville Primary School, St John's RC School, St Mary's Bluecoat School and Worfield Primary School.
Oldbury Wells organised a judging group made up of staff and governors. The judges then picked the best work from the schools and it was edited into a short film. This film, starring the pupils, was broadcast over the internet, in a special assembly on Friday. The finished film showing the best work, had Oldbury Wells’ drama teacher Kurt Cook, dressed as a TV newsreader.
Chris Smith, head of Year 7 at Oldbury Wells, said: "We were so impressed by all of the clips, so well done everyone.
"Two entries particularly stood out for us. These were Austin Hunter-Partridge from Worfield Primary and Abigail Higgott from St Leonard’s C.E Primary, and we gave those pupils a joint top prize. Other winning entries were from Isabelle Matthews from Alveley School, Douglas Spickernell from Beckbury School, Ben Quinton from Castlefields School, Eden Tudge from Claverley School, Eben Davies from Highley School, Lily Farmer from Morville School, Max Ward from St John’s RC School, Finely Drew from St Mary’s Bluecoat School, Riley Howells from Stokesay School and the Year 7 key worker group from Church Stretton School."
Sarah Godden, CEO of the TrustEd Schools' Partnership, said: "It was a joy to take part in this project and I really enjoyed watching the clips to help select those that would go into the film.
"From the film clips that the pupils have sent us, we can see the wonderful variety of excellent learning that children are doing across our area, including local history, extreme weather, ancient China, space travel, Churchill and Henry VIII.
“I was then able to watch the film being broadcast in the special assembly. Actually, the assembly itself was a special event too, seeing so many schools connected together across Shropshire in a virtual assembly.”
Paul O'Malley, executive headteacher of Alveley and Stokesay schools added: "This has been a great project that many of our pupils got involved with. We loved seeing the special assembly with the finished film screening and the result of all the pupils' hard work. Thank you to Oldbury Wells for organising this inspiring project for us all."
