From January until March 2024, Screen Scotland funded St Paul’s RC Academy in Dundee for an education project that involved both screen literacy and filmmaking activities with senior pupils who have a variety of complex barriers to learning.
This was the brainchild of Fraser Christie, Principal Teacher of Computing, who worked with freelance screen educator Sandie Jamieson to encourage creativity, communication and teamwork skills, as well as improve self-confidence in pupils who were experiencing exclusion, and help to give them a voice in this digital age.
Over the ten-week project, Sandie took the pupils through the early history of film, including Russian montage, German Expressionism, experimental film and documentary. Pupils then had the opportunity to take photographs, make sound effects and design soundtracks, create animations, and make their own short films using what they had learned. The classes also had the opportunity to look at working in the film and TV industry as a neurodiverse person and the support available to them.
By the end of the ten weeks, pupils had forgotten any animosities or introversion and collaborated and learned on the fly while having fun with film, sound and animation. They worked more supportively with one another, learned more about and respected each other’s skills and talents, and built positive relationships.
Furthermore, Sandie ran a lunchtime session for the school STEM Robotics group about accessible and mobile cinema to help them develop an idea as part of a National LEGO competition. Her input and accompanying resources provided a great stimulus for the team, who not only went on to win the project part of the competition, but also raised awareness of accessibility in cinema for all of the competition’s participants as well as the sponsors.
This was the first funded activity from the brand-new Schools Screen Education Fund, launched in October 2023. To find out moe, visit our Schools Screen Education Fund webpage.
Image credit: Fraser Christie