Date: 12th October 2010
Subject: Christleton 2010 Project
LORD MAYOR AWARDS CHRISTLETON YEAR SEVEN FILM MAKERS
160 year six children who took part in an innovative film making project have been awarded by the Lord Mayor of Chester.
The project, run by Liverpool based company MGL, was conceived as a way to ease the transition from primary school to secondary school for year 6 pupils who joined Christleton High School in September. To mark the culmination of the project the school hosted an Oscars awards ceremony during which the Lord Mayor of Chester gave out awards and the audience was addressed by Mervyn Wilson, Principal of the Co-operative College.
Over the course of three days earlier this year all the year 6 pupils moving up to Christleton in September were invited to spend a day at the school working in a group with pupils from other feeder schools along with a Christleton year seven pupil and a year 12 team leader. Children were set the task of developing a short animated film on the theme of ‘Time Machine’ and the 10 different groups were arranged so that children from all the feeder schools were mixed together.
Groups on the first day were tasked with writing a storyboard and modelling the characters. Those attending the second day were given a storyboard from the previous day’s group and asked to animate and film the characters and story. Groups on the final day were asked to record the dialogue, sound effects and background music and shown how to add these onto the finished film.
In total, 10 different short animated films were produced and all were screened at The Oscars event with awards being given out for Best Sound Mixing, Best Storyline, Best Editing, Best Props, Best Models, Best Overall Production, Best Teamwork, Best Animation, Best Original Idea and Best Script.
Tony Lamberton, Headteacher at Christleton School, said of the project. ‘The films that were screened at the Oscars are testimony to the imagination and creativity of our pupils. However the real success story lies is the fact that we were able to make our new year seven pupils feel part of the school before the new term had even begun.’
Annabelle Unsworth, of MGL, said: ‘The project was a great way to introduce the children to Christleton’s teachers, pupils and school environment before the summer holidays and give them an opportunity to make new friends and explore the school. For a year 6 pupil the prospect of their first day at secondary school is far less daunting if they know there will be lots of familiar faces!’
ENDS
