Blog : Family Learning

I’m going to start our blog with a quote from a master of words who was able to understand and utilise their immense power:

And now to introduce POW…A modern day superhero to representing the ‘Power of Writing’ who’s mission is to inspire creative literacy teaching and learning in primary schools. I had the pleasure recently of spending a day at Mahatma Gandhi’s residence in Mumbai and was very inspired by the simplicity of his approach to life and the absolute power contained in much of his writing, whether that be short quotes or letters to head of nations as part of his strategy for advocating a free India through non violence. In our technology driven modern communication network how many of us actually have the time to hand write? If it’s not a greetings card most of us type on a keyboard or smartphone and in the process, the speed of the activity may dilute some of the creative thought processes that go into our writing  Ghandi’s hand written words in simple bound journals were incredibly powerful and helped me re-connect with the importance of children discovering their creativity, finding joy in the written word and understanding the power of writing.

Shireland Hall Primary School have been developing POW resources for a while now using a range of reward driven stimulus that focus on a ‘can do’ positive child centred approach. There are no longer mistakes in writing only interference and trickery from the ‘Flerbs’. Teachers are testing this new innovative resource within their literacy strategy in both KS1 & KS2 with amazing results. The children are really inspired and engaged by POW and his cloak of many letters and how he conquers the “Flerbs”, those pesky little creatures that can appear as pitiful punctuation or infect writing with grammatical errors!

One slight unexpected drawback to this new superhero’s positive impact is that all the kids want to meet him in person and guess who has been unanimously nominated to don the lycra and bring this character to life….yes it’s me and I do admit I haven’t taken much persuading, apparently he looks a bit like me, which is slightly worrying, but hey it’s for the kids!

If you want to find out more about POW or  try it in your school, just let us know.

Are you interested in greenscreen? Want some top tips? Check out our Lego animation on the best ways to film your masterpiece!

Say hello to POW… A superhero to inspire great literacy teaching and learning. Shireland Hall Primary School are testing this new innovative resource with amazing results. The children are really inspired and engaged by POW and his cloak of many letters and how he conquers the “Flerbs”, those pesky little creatures that infect writing with grammatical errors!

Teachers are still viewed as authority figures by many parents and carers and Headteachers can easily unintentionally remain very aloof. I am very sensitive to the welcome (or absence of one!) we receive when we arrive at a school and I think the visual stimulus in a school foyer is very important when it comes to creating the right first impression. Teachers are on the whole very approachable, creative and talented people, but within the confines of the school ‘institution’ they can often just seen as authority figures. We have just installed two original and creative interpretations of the ‘staff photo board’. A pop art version at Greenacres Primary and a more friendly contemporary panel at Kingsland Primary. The response has been really positive and by showing the teachers doing ‘hobbies’ at Greenacres, the artwork has really helped reinforce the message that  teachers are in fact, people who have a life outside work, just like everyone else!

We have launched a new MEN AT WORK campaign to showcase outstanding male teachers working in primary schools. We are committed to raising awareness of the positive impact male teachers have and try to encourage more people into the profession. There is huge opportunity to improve education by attracting men into teaching assistant and teaching roles and our observational short films will highlight how important it is to get MEN AT WORK in primaries. Our first film ‘Days of the Week’ shows Mr Patel working in Foundation Stage, it’s a lovely short film showing the joy of learning and teaching, we hope you enjoy it and that you will support our campaign to get blokes teaching.

Being around the sheer joy of children being ‘lost in learning’ is one of the privileges of our work. Here we see children exploring ways to take learning outdoors and creating a series of potential designs for installations and sculpture that will inspire creative outdoor learning. They really engaged in the process and this little gem of a film gives a snapshot of the pure enjoyment of being ‘lost in learning’.

Children from Years 4 & 5 at Hurst Hill Primary School have been thinking about how they use ICT and technology and whether in the 21st Century they should have what is known as a traditional ICT suite. The children thought about how technology and digital tools could become mobile and integrated into all areas of the curriculum including outdoor learning. They used creative approaches to experiments and research exciting ways to use digital tools creatively and went to our local neighbours Queen Victoria Primary to find out how they use technology. This short film summarises their research project and presents their suggestions for how we should embrace digital technology. We will also be consulting with parents and teachers next and then sharing our final proposals.

Why don’t children from neighbouring schools learn together more? We explored this question on a recent project with children from Hurst Hill Primary School organising a trip to their nearest neighbours, Queen Victoria Primary to see how children use digital tools to support creative learning.We are supporting the Hurst Hill children as they look to change the way they use technology exploring questions such as are ICT suites relevant anymore and why should you have to go to a designated place to use technology?

These outdated ideas are being seriously challenged by year 4 as they look to encourage everyone at their school to join the 21st Century and become digital creatives. Their visit to their neighbours, (just a short walk away) was a very successful morning and the children from Queen Victoria led workshops in film, animation, podcasting a radio broadcasting and shared their top tips for making technology mobile, accessible and inspirational. The kids really enjoyed it and were very inspired by the experience. Next big question, why don’t we do this more often?

We encourage children to be reflective and understand how they are learning and how they can maximise their opportunities to learn and become life-long learners.This little video shows Year 4 children from St Augustines Primary School reflecting on their recent experience of a Chinese Culture. The legacy of our work is difficult to quantify but we also plan carefully with teachers and teaching assistants and embed practice with them that enables our projects to be sustainable.

We all believe that supporting a child’s learning is a partnership between families and schools and we should initiate and enrich this belief at every possible opportunity. We find family art workshops on a Saturday morning a great way of bringing children, families and teachers together to develop relationships and the creative process helps develop trustful teamwork. We host one about every six weeks and they are always over subscribed and very successful.

This week we took inspiration from the emotional mood paintings of Mark Rothko. He believed that creating art should be an experience in itself and a means of expression that provokes an emotional response, if people cry listening to music, why not whilst looking at a painting? So we all got warmed up, got in touch with our emotions and got stuck in! It was great fun and the collection produced will adorn the Hurst Hill Primary Gallery in the entrance hall to the school. The work will have a profound impact and will help share and reinforce the core message of the school which is “Learning Together”.