Orchards - More parents came than any other school.

Agreeing the starting points/next steps.

The Science Manager at Orchards Primary School, Jaynie Lynch, responded to the initial publicity about the Colourbox, sent out by Big Wide Talk, and after talking to the BWT team about the Theatre of Learning found the money to hire coaches to bring 50 children the forty four miles to Cambridge from Wisbech. Orchards came to the Colourbox on 3rd April 2009 with 50 children and 13 adults. Due to the schools high percentages of children with English as a second language, three of the adults, who attended the Colourbox workshop, supported children in their first language. All children were prepared for the trip by viewing and discussing still images from previous Colourbox workshops.

Doing exciting things with children.

The children really enjoyed being allowed to explore and develop their own ideas and thoughts without having to reach a pre-set outcome. It gave the children a chance to identify their own misconceptions and change them if needed. For example, when the children went into the baffle box to experience total darkness, many had trouble understanding how or why they could not see anything, not even their own hands or feet.

Being with and observing children.

During the reflective sessions it was apparent that many people in the school were enthusiastic about the visit to the Colourbox, one TA commented that '...it was great, it was so hands on, I've never been anywhere that they could touch and move and scream and shout - and were really allowed to express themselves, normally...' The teachers agreed that it was nice to be able to observe the children learning without restrictions. It became apparent that the children were taking ownership of their own learning.

Co-operating.

Orchards School organised for their children to travel 44 miles to the Colourbox by coach.
Jaynie, Science Manager, and Helen, Year 3 Manager, did some follow up work in class, after attending the Colourbox workshop,and we had a planning session together in which we organised the reflective session. We feel that Orchards were very cooperative which led to quite a few parents coming into the school, talking to us about their children's experiences at the Colourbox and editing footage.

Documenting.

More parents came to Orchards to reflect about their children's experiences at the Colourbox than any other school.
We were keen to share the experience with parents. The Orchards children explored the Colourbox vigorously. Clips 1-6.
Many of the children revisited the experience enthusiastically. Clips 8 and 9.
Parents watched footage of their children (clip 7) and talked about the Colourbox experience.
The Big Wide Talk method includes: doing exciting things with children, which clearly happened. Thinking and talking with parents about the children's experience. This also happened.
Orchards believes that the method of using visual aids, when talking to parents, was key to engaging them in their children's learning. The school encourages parents to participate in all aspects of their children's learning by stressing the importance of experiences they share with their children. The children are still keen to share the discussions they have had with their parents about the Colourbox experience.

Instigating Change.

Orchards School has spent a lot of time and resources, over the past few years, to implement and embed a whole school learning environment where 'Every Child Matters' and is giving the opportunities to access and develop their own learning. Science is one area that this practice has been embedded in; specifically through the use of practical Science investigations (based on SC1 skills).
Something Orchards has taken from the Colourbox experience is to allow for more child-led investigations. Another aspect, from the experience, the school has taken on is the use of visual aids to support school-parent relationships.

Thinking and Talking.

We had a planning session with Janie and Helen for the reflective work. We talked about Orchards' experience at the Colourbox with staff, parents and children in the planning and reflective sessions.
After these sessions BWT identified a series of comments from the staff, parents and children and clips which matched their recollections and observations.

Clips:

Images: