Sidley CP Celebrate Creative Skills

The film, a culmination of 5 weeks hard work for year 5 & 6 pupils, was made in conjunction with the Creative Partnerships scheme - the government's flagship programme currently in schools aimed at developing learning through creativity.

Head Teacher Julie Reece said she believed the experience the pupils had gained from the ten workshops it had taken to make the film, had been invaluable.

She said: "This has been an excellent opportunity for the children and has really pushed boundaries. They have gained many new skills which they will be able to apply to other aspects of learning.They've learned how to use ICT technology in computer animation, the developing of the film from making the cardboard cutouts through to the end product and working in a group as a team learning collaboration and co-operation. This has been a wonderful and hugely motivating experience for them."

After the film presentation pupils then gave parents a taste of their new found skills and invited them to participate in a workshop on how to make animations.

Being taught something new in such a hands-on, practical and creative way clearly made an impact on the pupils involved and eleven year old Faith Bromley said it was, "an amazing experience."

She added: "It's nice to have learned something without just looking at books and I think I've learned much more information on Egypt than I would've done just by reading about it. Also It made us all realise we can gel together as groups and it was nice to be trusted with the special equipment we needed to use."

Faith praised the animator Tom Cross for all his help with the project and said she had never realised how much time it took to make an animated film. She added: "Although the film is only five minutes long we all put every day into it. I'd definitely like to do it again but with more time. We've discovered through animation that Ancient Egypt is not a boring topic."