Today marks the start of National Schools Film Week, and children from two local primaries are taking part.
Billed as 'the world's largest film festival for schools', the Film Education initiative aims to help classroom teaching by providing a memorable experience for pupils (the movie), and backing it up with an online suite of resources linked to the film and more generic subjects.
Some 210 children from Broughton Primary School will watch Brave at the Greenside Vue, and another 175 will join 32 from St Mary's Primary School to watch Dr Seuss's The Lorax.
Alan Devine, headteacher at Broughton PS, is a film enthusiast who successfully lobbied for the screening of the Wizard of Oz during Film Week three years ago. He wholeheartedly supports introducing young people to the cinema experience, and in addition to the scheme's several educational benefits regards it as a useful and fun incentive for good behaviour in the school.
'We'll be celebrating the Bard's birthday with a performance of 'Tam o' Shanter' in January next year,' he told Spurtle, and Brave is another brilliant way of illustrating aspects of the Scots tongue. The Lorax should help with personal development and environmental issues.'
'So it's not just an early pre-Christmas jolly then?' Spurtle asked supportively.
'It may fulfil that function, but only as a by-product, not as the whole point.'
Festival Director Nick Walker says that since 1985 the scheme has increased awareness and understanding of cinema, both for pupils and for teachers seeking new ways to deliver the school curriculum.
This year, over 470,000 students (aged 4–19 years) are expected to attend 2,500 screenings at 570 cinemas across the UK.
For more information and to book tickets, visit: www.nationalschoolsfilmweek.org