NATIONAL SCHOOLS FILM WEEK Assembly corner


“Education is a progressive discovery of our own


een education


ignorance.” Will Durant, 1885-1981, American writer, historian and philosopher


“An educational system isn’t worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn’t teach them how to make a


life.” Source unknown


“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the


world.” Albert Einstein, 1879-1955, Swiss- German physicist


“I may have said the same thing before, but my explanation, I am sure, will


always be different.” Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900, Irish writer, poet and aesthetic


“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and


change.” Carl Rogers, 1902-1987, American psychologist


Film Education has produced Not Just A Trip To The Movies, a support guide to NSFW for teachers which includes advice about the explicit teaching of “cinema behaviour”. As well as the films themselves, NSFW is also


defined by the chance for students to quiz an array of experts after some screenings, ranging from academics, producers, actors, film industry insiders, and critics. Pauline Small is a senior lecturer in film at Queen


Mary College, University of London, and one of a growing number of academics supplementing NSFW screenings with talks and question and answer sessions. She explained: “Ideally it gives young people an


insight into how to break-down a viewing experience, thinking about how everything – the performances, the camera angles, music and art direction – contributes to a film’s overall impact. “This year I am introducing the 2008 Italian film


Gomorrah and I hope to quiz the audience about their expectations of films about the mafia. It is likely to be challenging on all sorts of levels not least because of the totally unglamorous Napolitan neighbourhoods in which it is set and its multiple narrative structure.” Another popular aspect are the pre-and post-


screening input from representatives of the British Board of Film Certification (BBFC). Mark Piper is the BBFC education officer and a fan of the festival which takes him and five colleagues across the country explaining the Board’s work using the films students have just witnessed as case studies. He explained: “It is a chance for us to explain why


having classification is a necessity, something most young people agree with, if not for themselves then usually as protection for their younger brothers and sisters “NSFW audiences are often gripped when we can


show the direct impact we have on a film’s creation; for example last year I was able to show how just one scene in the Eran Creevy’s film Shifty was re-edited following our concerns about the language so that it got a 15 certificate rather than an 18, which would have put it out of reach of a lot of its target teenage audience.” Another recent recruit to the NSFW cause is Mary


Wood, professor of European cinema at Birkbeck College, who is introducing Luca Guadagnino’s I Am Love. She said: “I remember the impact that seeing foreign language classics on television had on me when I was young, but such films do not get much exposure on terrestrial stations these days which makes this festival even more valuable in trying to extend young people’s film repertoire. I certainly would have welcomed something like NSFW when I was starting to get curious about film.” As an example, NSFW 2010 is giving the recent


Hungarian cold-war drama The Last Report on Anna the chance to be seen by a school audience.


SecEd • September 16 2010 “I believe young people have, despite common


prejudices, a lot of stamina for unfamiliar stories told in unfamiliar languages,” explained Natalia Nagy the head of programmes and communication at the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London. “We lack the capacity to engage schools and


win audiences on our own and that’s where Film Education comes in and what makes NSFW so important.” Other films gaining a UK school premier in this


year’s festival will be the “feel good” joint South African/Rwandan adventure story Africa United and director John Madden’s latest – a thriller involving the search for Nazi war criminals – called The Debt and starring Helen Mirren. What then of the teachers and students? Bernard


Bulaitis teaches film studies at City and Islington College in London and has been bringing students to NSFW screenings for seven years. He told SecEd: “It can be eye-opening for young


people to come to an independent cinema and attend a film screening at which detailed discussion of the film is encouraged. “It reinforces the message at the heart of the courses


we teach – that film is worthy of such analysis. The fact that such screenings are quite formal encourages them to realise the impact a film can have in a cinema free of other distractions.” For one of his students, Katherine Moore, attending


a recent NSFW screening of Slum Dog Millionaire brought the added thrill of being able to seek director Danny Boyle’s advice about getting involved in the film industry. She said: “He was encouraging. He suggested that


if you want to make film you should go for it given it has never been easier to edit and distribute one’s work online.” For 17-year-old N’Chicka Khyne-Sam, a 6th-former


at Ellen Wilkinson School in Ealing, a highlight of NSFW 2009 was the chance to attend a screening of The Boat That Rocked at which one of its stars Bill Nighy provided a lengthy post-screening question and answer session. She explained: “Our exam topic required us to focus


on the output of a studio and we had chosen the film’s production company Working Title as our focus and so the event could not have been more useful. It all fed straight into our studies.”


SecEd Further information


National Schools Film Week runs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from October 14 to 22, 2010 and in Scotland from October 28 to November 5, 2010. Teachers can book free seats at www.nsfw.org and Film Education’s library of resources is available at www.filmeducation.org/resources


Independent thinking The buzz of a new school year


IT IS that time of year again – fresh-faced and enthusiastic pupils throng the school corridors while anxious parents crowd around the gates. There is something really heart-warming and special about welcoming a new year 7 cohort to secondary school. They are so eager and open to different experiences, willing to try new activities and make new friends, full of trust and optimism. If only we could bottle that or at least make it last throughout the teenage years. Some readers may think that I have become


overly idealistic, but it is true that our new year 7 pupils really are keen to make the most of their opportunities at the start of their senior school career. One mother commented to me that her daughter, who had never been at all “sporty” before, had already been to trials for swimming, netball and even cross-country and was about to stay after school to play hockey. The buzz in the school dining hall is


palpable and the smartness of their uniform a joy to behold. We read and see so much in the media these days about the young being unable to communicate face-to- face and being unfit, and uninterested in eating healthy food or reading books or using their imagination, but that is not my experience of our 11-year-old pupils. They meet me in the corridors with beaming smiles and a courteous greeting. They readily talk to one another and are happy to explore new friendships. Perhaps they will be exhausted by October half-term and their enthusiasm may begin to dwindle, but let us encourage and celebrate it while it lasts and think hard about how to prolong it. Interestingly, two other year groups also come


back in September with renewed purpose and a willingness to make a fresh start – year 10 and 12. In each case they are faced with the beginning of a slightly different stage. Our year 10 students have now chosen their GCSE options and have ceased to study some subjects, although education minister Michael Gove would be pleased to learn that they all


take at least one modern foreign language and study the three separate sciences. They begin to take much more responsibility for their own learning and mostly seem to have lost that adolescent awkwardness that can make life uncomfortable in year 9. They are growing into confident young women. Similarly, those just entering the 6th form realise


that they have a whole new world ahead of them, not only new courses but also a chance to get deeply involved in our school community, running activities for younger pupils and taking on even more community action commitments outside of school. They are fired up by their


GCSE examination results, excited by the prospect of studying fewer subjects in much greater depth, and already thinking about their futures. School uniform has become a thing of the past for them, so they are experimenting with


wearing appropriate clothing while developing their own style. In spite of their keenness in some


areas, it is also true that the pace of girls’ movement around the school declines significantly – as they progress from year 10 to 12 brisk walking around the corridors does not come naturally, being replaced by


a more contemplative amble. So, the challenge for us as teachers is to capitalise on our students’ initial eagerness. It would be wonderful if we could convince them in the dark days of February that there are still lots of new and exciting things to be explored, understood and mastered with the same fresh enthusiasm that they displayed


in September. Even more marvellous, would be to see year 9 pupils as carefree and uninhibited as the year 7s, unencumbered by any overwhelming desire to appear “cool”. Perhaps I have now slipped into unrealistic optimism!


• Marion Gibbs is headmistress of the independent James Allen’s Girls’ School in London.


9


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16