In the last few weeks we have done four workshops at Happisburgh primary school, Ellingham primary school, Hopton primary school and Thurlton primary school which have all gone brilliantly. In January we’ll be doing workshops with Ludham Primary, Rockland St Mary primary, Kinsale Junior School, Coltishall primary, and Ormesby Junior School. Finally, in February we’ll deliver our final workshop to the project’s 10th school Greenacre primary in Great Yarmouth.
In these workshops we are introducing our bespoke education packs to individual classes, and sometimes the whole of the Key Stage 2 year groups, with a series of activities to get children thinking about what The Norfolk and Suffolk Broads are, how they came to be, and what they are used for.
There have been some great conversations in all directions, between us and the children, between teachers and children, between us and teachers, and of course, amongst the children themselves.
They were very enthusiastic about discovering where they were located on the map. For some of them The Broads were very familiar, being in their back yards so to speak, and for others The Broads were a whole new concept, even though they live and go to school in the Broadland area.
At Hopton we had ninety kids take part. Yes that’s right, 90! They are taking an interesting approach to the project, with teacher Beth Palmer running a lunchtime club for pupils who are interested in learning more about The Broads. It’s wonderful to see all the different approaches by the various schools.
Anna Clayton has been a brilliant assistant, recording conversations with the kid and commanding the workshops like a pro. She is very good at listening and drawing conversation out of even the shyest young ones.
We have seen an excellent selection of drawings from pupils. This was clearly their favourite part of the workshop and they would have drawn boats, butterflies and windmills all day, if we’d let them.
We’re very much looking forward to coming back in a few months time to see how everyone has got on with The Butterfly Effect project and we’re excited to be able to take their work to Norwich for a public exhibition. Details to be announced soon.
Good luck to all the schools in the project. We hope you enjoy your time with The Butterfly Effect and enjoy finding new connections with your local landscape.
