Using Pathe News in the Curriculum - Barnham Project

Jan/

2000

Imagine being able to take children back 50 years to see their own village through the eyes of the children of the time.

We were able to do this ? due to the discovery of a newsreel made about Barnham in West Sussex and its village school in the 1950s.
The film was found in the British Pathe archive containing a wealth of film from 1896 to 1970. Currently the archive is made available to UK schools as a paid for resource within the National Education Network.

Click here to play the Barnham video...
The Barnham project is an excellent example of using the National Education Network as a stimulus for children?s learning, with the 1950s Pathe film being used to inspire today?s Barnham Primary School children to carry out their own research and create their own film.

After watching the original footage, the year five children were given the opportunity to plan the content of a new film. In negotiation with their teachers and advisory staff, they decided to have a 1950s theme week, during which they would make a film comparing Barnham in the 1950s, with the Barnham of today.

To prepare for the film, the children applied for jobs within the team, held interviews and organised roles and responsibilities. They contacted the local press and radio, organised research and wrote to and interviewed local people about their experiences at the school in the 1950s. They even discovered that one of their mid-day meal supervisors had been a child in the original film when she spotted herself in the Pathe newsreel.

Once the children agreed what to include, they produced storyboards for each section of their film. This ensured that their filming was focussed and well prepared.

A range of activities were timetabled for the 1950s theme week. This gave all the children the chance to experience some 50s style lessons, and learn how ICT could be used to document their investigations about the locality.

One sunny week in July 2007 more than 50 excited children embarked on their week of discovery.

Developing drawing skills in art was an excellent way of observing the buildings and landmarks of Barnham.

The children learnt to play games that were popular in the 1950s, and songs from the time were performed.

The children and staff particularly liked dressing up in the 1950s style for a day, and experienced 1950s lessons. These included maths, art and a sports afternoon.

The sports day gave the film crew opportunity to explore and develop more successful camera techniques.

Local people were very keen to share their experiences of school in the 1950s. The children showed them the Pathe Newsreel, and photographs from the period when they attended the school.

The children also had a chance to discuss technology, and compare this to what was available in the 1950s. They were surprised at how much it had changed.

To take advantage of first-hand information they prepared questions and recorded interviews with the visitors, including the local historian.

Developing geographical skills was key to the project, as it helped the children to understand the local area. This was enhanced by the use of digital mapping on the internet where children would upload photographs and information of Barnham onto interactive maps.

As in the film from the 1950s, the children took their learning out into the community. They looked at the style and use of buildings, how things have changed with time and visited places of interest in the village. They continued to use up-to-date technology to record their findings.

Because the focus of the project was to compare present-day Barnham to the Barnham of the 1950s, the children chose to visit some of the locations they had seen in the Pathe News film.

A new school has been built since the original film was made and the old school is now a residential house. This still retains reminders of its former use, such as graffiti scratched into the wall. When they knocked on the door, the children were invited to look round the house and interview the present owner about the building, and living in Barnham.

The railway station is central to Barnham life, and the children were very interested to learn about its importance and how it has changed.

This also gave the children further opportunity to develop their video camera skills, such as panning, to film an arriving train. The children were excited to discover they could interview the station master, and planned questions to ask him about life at the station. Like the children in the 1950s, they discovered that talking to local people can form an invaluable part of their studies.

From the interview they were shocked to find out that the old signal box was about to be demolished. On returning to school they immediately wrote to a local museum to see if this fascinating piece of the past could be preserved in some way.

The local church has changed very little since the 1950s and the local minister was very keen to share his knowledge of the parish and its inhabitants.

For today?s children, drawing from observation was just as popular a method of recording their findings as it had been in the Pathe News film.

The children learnt so much from visiting their local community and recording their findings in a variety of ways that it enabled them to continue the work back in the classroom.

The children combined film and digital photographs, with their new-found knowledge about Barnham, to produce their own film. Collaborative working was key to the decision making and editing process of their film production.

The finishing touch was writing and recording the narration, which gave another opportunity to comment on what they had learnt.

Our presentation highlights some clips of their film. They are extremely proud of it.

The project was a comprehensive learning experience for the children focussing on literacy, technological, geographical and historical skills which fostered team work and collaboration. And what?s more the children really enjoyed it.

This film has inspired other schools to use filmmaking as a medium that supports learning, and to give children the opportunity to develop new skills and interests.

This is just one example of using ICT to support learning. This type of project can be tailored to run from a week to a half term, depending on the needs of the teachers and children involved. It demonstrates how the use of Broadband in school can make a significant difference to teaching and learning.

Click here to watch the video...

mms://media.wsgfl.org.uk/misc/sis/segfl/barnham_streaming.wmv

Barnham Pathe News. Making the Video

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