"100% I am teaching an animation unit next year,

I know I am."

Frances, Art Teacher, South Quay College

"I think it's amazing, even if I wanted to teach online I could use it, so I will definitely use it in the future because I think it's really very good, excellent.”

Agnes, Art Teacher, New Directions PRU

"It's really good to have a subject specific CPD opportunity that isn't just ‘these are the things you should do as a teacher’ and ‘this is how to make your plenaries more effective’ and things that are teaching specific but don't have any subject skills in them. I really appreciate it, thank you.”

Frances, Art Teacher, South Quay College

"This took them away and gave them something completely different to do, which is good. Because it was different, it was hands on as opposed to academic it really made them engage.”

Richard, MediaTeacher, Street Vibes Academy

“Being able to refer back to animation as a process is very useful. Giving them something they can be proud of. A lot of our kids lack confidence in delivering stuff. ‘I can’t do that - I can’t draw’ etc. That leads the majority of the problems we have, which comes from some sort of confidence thing. As a project it’s been good to give them something tangible that they’ve done.”

Andy Connick, Brent River College

“The nicest thing was seeing a very reluctant child who thought he wasn’t good at art, but he said his model was the best thing he’d ever made, he was so happy, and he showed the Headteacher the film he’d made. He was really pleased with it. Also getting him to use the camera on the ipad, and give him a lot of autonomy was great. By the end of it I was his assistant, he was telling me what to do. It was really nice to see his confidence grow from being a reluctant learner. ”

Ruth Corney, Ellern Mede School

Animation PRU Project 2020 - 2021

10 Alternative provision schools took part in our animation training project, giving teachers the skills and confidence to teach animation in the classroom and further extend arts education opportunities to the young people they work with. COVID-19 and government restrictions meant that students were often unable to benefit from visiting artists workshops and that access to cultural and arts experiences were even more limited.

The schools who took part in the project were:

The Boxing Academy

Brent River College

Ellern Mede School

Pavillion School

Oak Hill School

Francis Barber School

South Quay College

London East Alternative Provision

Street Vibes Academy

New Direction

Teachers across multiple curriculum subjects took part in 3 CPD sessions to learn the basics of animation from script to screen, including character design, claymation, paper cut and animation principles such as squash and stretch.

After completing the CPD sessions, teachers led 6 session workshops with their students to produce an animation showreel. All 6 sessions of our workshop resources and how to videos can be viewed here.

PRU PROJECT

“Our children don’t do progress just with outcomes, progress comes when they manage to engage with little things, like pressing the button [to take a photograph] many times and looking at the screen. One boy was so focused and he has not engaged with anything else.“

Diego Poupin, Francis Barber PRU