Citizenship and Belonging
Citizenship and Belonging is a pilot Enquiry Schools project delivered at Garston CofE Primary School by Creative Partnerships Merseyside.
Enquiry Question
The Enquiry Question for this project was: In this year of Liverpool European Capital of Culture how can we explore a sense of citizenship and belonging to the city of Liverpool for all members of our school community through a digital literacy project that provides opportunities to explore co-constructive learning in the pupils?
Project Focus
The focus of this project was an exploration of co-constructed learning and its effectiveness as a strategy to raising standards for all pupils and releasing potential for greater creativity within the curriculum. Digital literacy was chosen as a means of engaging the pupils and forming a basis for learning throughout the project. A whole school approach was used, supporting the inclusive nature of the school and providing for the development of a sense of citizenship, excellence and enjoyment and skills learning around digital media and its creative application.
Project Theme
The theme for the project was “Buildings in Liverpool and the children named any buildings in Liverpool they felt were interesting to study. Having decided on their building, each group of children were given the opportunity to research its design, its location, its history and its function (past and present). Half day visits took place and film and digital photographs were taken.
Children were encouraged to learn skills in filming, photography and in editing and work towards a presentation DVD that would form a presentation to the wider school community.
The project partners concluded that there is a place in Garston CofE for vertically streamed/cross phase working. There are difficulties in making such working meaningful for every child but with care and creative thought it is not impossible. Actions and reactions have been monitored and the younger children benefited from their participation with older children. Every child in school was directly involved and benefited in some way from this inclusion. The project has brought the school closer together as they have all shared the experiences. Evidence suggests that the desire for belonging and for civic pride to be developed has been successful for a significant number of the children in some form. They are certainly aware of self and have made connections to where they live and the special nature of the buildings they have studied.