After school clubs make the right movies – and why not?
All year groups in the Kingsbury and Anker Valley clusters are getting the chance to be junior film reviewers as their schools have joined the national Film Club.
The after school activity, part of Warwickshire County Council’s Extended Services programme, allows pupils to nominate films that they would like to see which can be ordered by the school Film Club leader, funded by Department of Education. After school, they watch films and talk about them as a group.
Being Film Club members also gives the pupils log in details for a safe website and enables them to write reviews of films. These are entered automatically into a Film Club competition with regular prizes for the best reviews – winners being known as Sparks – of invitations to red carpet film events with a parent in London.
A mobile cinema will visit schools for family events and actors, technicians and directors, affiliated with the Film Club, and run workshops with the children.
June Evans, cluster co-ordinator for Kingsbury and the Anker Valley where the club is up and running, says: “Film Club has some tremendous benefits for the pupils and often we would expect to see pupils who might otherwise find after-school activities difficult if they are not sporty or shy to flourish in the atmosphere of a film club and develop friendships and confidence that they may not b able to get from their regular lessons.
“As well as integrating pupils, there are clear benefits for all pupils’ interpersonal and language skills. We will be looking to expand this scheme across all age groups within the cluster.”
Schools have embraced the scheme with The Polesworth School’s older pupils running the scheme for younger children. It will, on occasions, be opened up to parents at a later date so all the family can participate.
Cherry Povall, teacher and Film Club leader at Woodside C of E Primary School said: “Our first three films have just arrived; we are all very excited and can’t wait to start.”
Neil Coleman, assistant head teacher and Film Club leader at Birchwood Primary School, said: “Film Club is ideal for Key Stage 1 pupils and an excellent alternative to outdoor activities during the winter months. We will be running three film clubs; one for years 1 and 2, one for years 3 and 4 and a third for years 5 and 6 so that we can choose films to best suit the different age groups.”
For further details of Extended Services activities in the area, visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/extendedservices