This week we welcomed our new year 10 group to kic.in2.study at the Cobblers Study Centre.

After introductions and a snack they were set a series of challenges to be completed within an hour.  First they had to identify where the challenges were located – some in the study centre, some in the stadium and some around the track area.  Then they checked how many points each challenge was worth, thought about their own strengths and weakness, decided on the order to complete the tasks –  and they were off. They rose to the challenge of measuring,estimating, counting,  sorting, finding words within a word, eating marshmallows, moving maltesers with chopsticks, taking photographs, and finding information.  We saw some good evidence of planning and cooperation and we were impressed at everyone’s willingness to “have a go”.

On Thursday some our Kic Drama students came back to work on their folders for their Bronze Arts Award. As well as making a Comic life poster showing activities that demonstrated key skills, they had to take part in a discussion about the Theatre visit to Stomp and then follow up and share their review with others. They also had to identify an arts hero/heroine and research them before making a powerpoint presentation about them and talking about what they had learned about their hero or heroine.

The first week of the Easter holiday saw a group of year 7 and 8 students at The Stables in Wavendon where they took part in a two day Notivate programme run by John Bowman.  The programme followed the usual singer/songwriter format, with John helping the young people to write song lyrics and create the music to go with them.  They were also able to experience playing the drums and the keyboard.  The theme for this year’s programme was bullying and their compositions will be entered in the county wide anti bullying song writing competition.

The final week at the Steelbacks study centre focused on some apprenticeship work .  As the apprenticeship aspect of the Arts Award the students had to lead the group in a drama skills type game.  They worked hard to decide what they needed to do, gave instructions and demonstrated to the rest of the group, and then led the activity.  We saw some good work focusing on communication and teamwork.

The drama group went on to work on a scripted scene from  Superheroes whilst the ICT group tried their hand at Robolab.  Both groups worked well and demonstrated great concentration.

The sessions finished with evaluations but we hope to see this group again very soon when they can do the work necessary to complete an Arts Award folder.

The final week of the kic.in2.study animation and film programme saw the students completing evaluations, doing a diary room recording of their reflections and commenting on the web site.  Then it was show time and we all watched the animations and films they had made during the past few weeks, eating popcorn at the same time to recreate the sense of cinema!

We then moved on to awards and certificates were given for a range of achievements.  Each student was also given a DVD with their films on.  Well done to everyone.

On Wednesday the digital media group completed their animated films, adding sound and credits.  The drama group worked on soundscapes and considered the impact of music and sound effects on  atmosphere and understanding.

Monday saw our year 9 students finishing off the editing of their films and the adding of special effects and music.  Then they moved on to a bit of competition as they participated in some x box kinect sports.  There were some unexpected champions with the discus and the javelin!                                                                   

As a follow up to the theatre visit to see STOMP the students took part in a  workshop run by Tim Walker.  They clapped and stamped, and used brooms, drumsticks and assorted tins to work together to create rhythms and to perform together.  They made lots of noise and had lots of fun, with one or two showing unexpected talent as percussionists.

The film making continued this evening as students edited their work and added special effects, sounds and music to their films. Great evidence of concentration and focus as they worked to the deadlines set by Ash.

Kic.in2.study students spent a fantastic afternoon at the Derngate Theatre on Saturday where they enjoyed a performance of STOMP.  They were entranced by the dancing, the rhythms and the humour – and amazed that there was no speaking in the whole performance.

The young people’s behaviour was excellent throughout and we were very proud of them.