Christmas comes early for Westbury children

13 December 2018

Children at Westbury CE Junior School using brand new iPads donated by the housing association Sovereign to create a movie of themselves receiving the donation.

As part of a lesson on how to ‘hit the headlines’ the children created a short film and learned how a press release is put together, working with film-maker and photographer Martin Cleveland and Sovereign’s PR specialist Jane Carmichael.

The children who received the 22 iPads on behalf of the school are all members of Team 10 - a youth social action group put together by the school with support from Sovereign to create opportunities for children to get involved in their community.

The children work together to recommend improvements to the surrounding neighbourhood and make suggestions for areas of investment, especially in the local Penleigh Park. They are planning to make another film to support a crowdfunding campaign to fund repairs in their local park.

Harvey Hodkinson,11, one of the Team 10 members, said: “We’ve already talked a bit with the local council and we know there isn’t much money for repairs at the moment. We want to make a film that shows how important Penleigh Park is to us. The main thing we want to work out is how we can get help to fix the ‘bop-it’ game, as it’s been broken for ages.”

Scott Jacobs-Lange, Sovereign’s Communities Officer for Westbury, said: “This project arose from discussions we had with young people about how they can make use of digital media to support the social action projects they’re involved with. Film is a great way to communicate the issues and opportunities young people encounter as residents. We hope to use film much more in future, including to support their crowdfunding campaign.”

Head teacher, Richard Hatt, said: “Seeing the children engage with new technology both in lessons and for projects that mean a lot to them outside of school is really fantastic. We hope to continue working closely with Scott and Sovereign in the future.”

Sovereign also supports the local community action group POPCAN, which brings together residents from the Penleigh and Oldfield Park area for partnership meetings and community walkabouts. To join this group, or find out about Sovereign’s Employment & Training support services, contact Scott Jacobs-Lange or visit www.fb.com/SovereignWestburyTeam