FUTURE TALENTED Summer Term 2019 - Issue 3 | Page 30

Gatsby Benchmarks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 considered elitist, and to understand the ›› breadth of jobs available within the industry. Professional development for teachers is a core part of the mix. To equip themselves to run Into Film programmes, teachers can choose from almost 50 face-to-face sessions acros s the year covering animation, filmmaking in the classroom and increasing l i te ra c y t h ro u g h f i l m . Co u r s e s a n d other resources are also increasingly available online. Training is produced with the curriculum firmly in mind “so that the teacher is not doing something ‘gimmicky’ or ‘additional’ but rather teaching their existing curriculum in a new and even more engaging and creative manner”, Fletcher makes clear. Boosting literacy Get your students involved in the Into Film Festival We remove barriers to accessing the powerful impact and medium of film The 2019 Into Film Festival runs from 6-22 November, bringing three weeks of engaging film screenings, workshops and special events across the UK — all free to UK schools. The festival offers easy-to-organise school trips to the cinema, with a specially curated programme supporting a multitude of curriculum subjects, inspiring and ensuring continued learning back in the classroom. Teachers actively and directly feed into the development of the festival programme, and 94% of teachers surveyed felt the activities were valuable to the broader education of young people; 83% said the festival is useful in helping to deliver the curriculum.  Into Film is keen to demonstrate the practical benefits of teaching with film. Tickets go live 5 September 2019 and will be “Film has sometimes been seen as the free to book for teachers, giving access to: ‘poor relation’ in comparison to other art forms, or as a purely ‘fun’ activity,” says • 120 films — covering themes including Fletcher. “We are changing hearts and minds anti-bullying, the environment and community rapidly as we train teachers and they showing at 600 venues across the UK understand the benefits of teaching with film and how to do it.” • free learning resources Educators have reported improved literacy among students who have participated in • talks, workshops and careers advice film projects, strong engagement and enthusiasm for learning. Backing this, • audio-described, subtitled and research by The Leeds Partnership autism-friendly screenings Project: Improving Literacy Through Creativity can: Film found that pupils who regularly To register interest • Aid problem solving and help engaged in making and watching films or gain updates visit: people deal with uncertainty showed a 96% improvement in average intofilm.org/festival • Fuel innovation points’ progress in reading, a 60% and entrepreneurship improvement in average points’ • Boost social and emotional skills p ro g re s s i n w r i t i n g a nd a 75 % • Celebrate uniqueness improvement in their attitude to learning. and diversity F i l m’ s a b i l i t y to f u e l p e r s o n a l development is a key advantage, Fletcher believes: “We see first-hand the positive effect on young people’s confidence, self-esteem and abili t y to expres s themselves ,” says Fletcher. “Creating stories is innate to human beings and developing this through film, we believe, is equi pp i ng our young p eople for their futures.” The value of creativity RESOURCES: Read about Preston Lodge High School’s experience of the benefits of filmmaking: bit.ly/PrestonLodgeHighSchool Find Into Film’s full range of resources at: intofilm.org/resources 30 // ROUTES INTO WORK