Horfield Primary School would like to invite you all in joining them to celebrate World Oceans Day.
Earlier this year, they embarked on an exciting STEM project that has brought schools together for a common cause - reducing plastic waste to save our planet.
We get the lowdown from Kirsten Cunningham, Horfield’s Assistant Headteacher, who has led this fab project.
Please do join them on Friday 7 June for a song and dance!
What inspired your Song of the Sea project?
Kirsten: The Song of the Sea was inspired by 200 children from across 20 schools in Bristol and North Somerset. We came together for the Science Summit, an annual event to promote science in schools, and collectively voted to raise the awareness of plastic pollution in the ocean.
All schools showed their commitment to making a difference, by taking part in a Science competition where each pupil made ‘birds’ out of old plastic bottles with magnets placed at the bottom, and the bird that ‘caught’ the most fish won!
The team leading the STEM project challenged every school to spread their commitment to making a difference far and wide. Some schools lobbied to MPs, asking them to change policies in schools to cut plastic waste.
As an Artsmark school, we wanted to share our message through the arts. We wanted to combine poetry, science and music to create a special song to invite as many schools as possible to engage with on Friday 7 June 2019 - the day before World Oceans Day.
We invited our pupils to write poems and song lyrics, then selected 11 of the most powerful to compose our very own Song of the Sea.
What impact has it had on your students’ learning?
Kirsten: The song has had such a positive impact on our children. They are acutely aware that this song is about real-world issues that are relevant to all aspects of their life. There is nothing like learning about current events in a creative way to inspire children. What they have learnt and produced as part of this project not only influences them as individuals, but society as a whole.
This has initiated waves of tremendous enthusiasm and enriched their experience of school. We make every effort to give all children a broad and balanced curriculum and this project has touched on so many curricular areas; science, literacy, music, PSHE, design and technology, geography.
How has this STEM project supported your Artsmark journey?
Kirsten: The project has enabled us as a school to embark on a project that is truly cross-curricular. It fully supports our Artsmark journey enabling children to develop their creativity both individually and collectively.
Children have found their artistic voice and the whole school has been involved in a project that seeks to create, compose and perform. It has made us more aware of the benefits of being ambitious in enriching our curriculum and involving the community beyond our school, in a project that is constantly evolving and developing.
How can we help?
Kirsten: Saving our precious planet can only be achieved through collaboration and a united front. I’d like us to take our first big step together as an Artsmark community, to demonstrate how we, as educators, can really make a difference.
Please join us in a virtual sing-song on Friday 7 June to honour #WorldOceansDay (which is on Saturday 8 June).
- Watch our Song of the Sea video on YouTube.
- Learn it, sing-a-long, dance or play to it and share your photos and videos on Facebook or Twitter using #HorfieldSongOfTheSea.
- Post your photos or videos onto our Facebook page.
- For Twitter users, just tag @HorfieldCE and @ArtsmarkAward and we’ll share, share, share!
Contact me for more info, ideas and resources.
Happy #WorldOceansDay from us all at Horfield!
