Pupils from Oldfield Park Junior School Bath have enjoyed success at their own Oscars ceremony after producing a Viking documentary film
Inspirational children at a junior school in Bath have played a starring role in their own film thanks to an engaging curriculum around Vikings that provided a multi-faceted approach to enhance their understanding.
The documentary Who Were The Vikings shone a light on the world of the Vikings and presented the pupils’ rich knowledge on the historical subject by starring in, scripting and producing the 20 minute film. What’s more, the project allowed the pupils to enjoy cross-curricular links, including through English and computing lessons.
The Vikings is an ever-popular part of the school’s creative curriculum and its themes of the rise and fall of the Viking Empire and the Battle of Hastings spans over two terms. Aside from monumental periods in history, they also allowed the pupils to develop skills in biographical, non-fiction and script writing, as well as filming, computing and presenting to different audiences.
During the history lessons, staff applied a ‘market place’ model where pupils were invited to choose a specific area of interest and become the experts of this part of Viking life. Information was shared by the children, who were then encouraged to present their understanding through non-fiction writing in English and brief presentations. They also looked at examples of how to shoot a documentary, which included the use of iPads.
The film was shot against the vast backdrop of the English Heritage site’s beautiful and diverse outdoor spaces, alongside natural play areas, allowing each pupil to apply their knowledge, stimulate their imagination and creativity, and harness their talents in a practical and authentic context.
Staff at the school then treated these pupils to an Oscar-style awards ceremony in which every child took part and highlighted their successful work ethic, which aligned nicely with the whole school’s wellbeing event which fell on the same day.
Their weekly wellbeing event is underpinned by their Trust’s vision of providing ‘excellent and equitable opportunities so everyone can flourish’ and values of ‘respect, courage and curiosity’ across all aspects of school life, while fostering high aspirations and ambition for academic success across all ages.
Palladian Academy Trust is striving to become the UK’s first ‘Thriving Trust Ambassador’ promoting social, emotional and mental health development. Oldfield Park’s filming provided an engaging way for children to further build their confidence while promoting a love of learning.
Glenn Dack, OPJS Assistant Head, Year 6 Teacher, English and Curriculum Lead, said, “I think most teachers would agree that the experiences that stay with us are usually quite powerful on an emotional level. Finding ways to engage with the children in a way that provides rich and exciting scenarios that enhance their understanding is key.
“Creatively, most of the themes we investigate at OPJS are designed to hook the children’s interests to instil a greater love for learning. Ultimately, we want them to go away from a lesson and want to find out more just for the love of it.
“We use video a lot in the school because I think it can say a lot more than a photograph. As parents, the information we receive at the dinner table about what happens in school and the incredible things that happen on a day-to-day basis can sometimes be missed.
“Sharing video insights into our routines, themes and events really involves the wider community in a way that a collection of photographs simply can’t.
“What’s great is you can see just by the way some if it is filmed that due to the children’s outside interests, such as YouTube, they have a great sense of how to put a film together, how the camera should move and how to make things cohesive.”
As for the children taking part, their comments included:
“It’s fun! I got loads of knowledge from it! The kind of facts that would impress someone!”
“Working as a team to put together so many facts was an amazing learning opportunity”
“It was great fun working with a team, particularly as we were with some people we wouldn’t normally work with.”
“I loved learning about the Vikings and getting to EXPRESS my knowledge in an interesting way”
“It was great fun working together to make something so amazing”
“I learnt so much and it was really fun as well”
The film is available to watch here: Who Were the Vikings? 2023 (youtube.com)