PROUD Balshaw's CE High School Parent and Leyland-Based
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PROUD Balshaw's CE High School parent and Leyland-based freelance writer Malcolm Wyatt was invited along to help advise the teams and judge the projects at July 11's South Ribble area AGT event. Here's what he made of the challenge. I DON'T think I'm talking out of turn when I let on that my fellow judge at the Balshaw's-hosted year seven and eight able, gifted and talented (AGT) day confided - as our big announcement loomed - this was the hardest decision she'd ever had to make. Nicola Moulden, an English teacher at Runshaw College, and myself were about to reveal - doing our best to avoid any unnecessary X Factor/Apprentice style build-up - the winners of the spring term's Super Learning event. There were two teams from Balshaw's alone, plus similarly fantastic groups representing Hutton Grammar School, Lostock Hall Academy, and Leyland’s St Mary's Catholic Technology College and Worden Sports College. And believe me, it was no easy task to pick a winner. The level of competition was amazing, and each school involved can be rightly proud of the pupils that represented them, for their courtesy as well as their creative endeavours. The idea, devised by Balshaw's head of English, Mr Purnell, was to write an 800 to 1,000 word story aimed at six to seven-year-old boys and girls, about a family day-trip to a theme park. On the journey there is a problem, and at the park a child goes missing. The teams were also asked to design a front and back cover and poster to advertise the book, and produce a script for a radio advert. An added element suggested freedom to create anything else they felt might help their bid. Each team had access to computers, pictures and various materials, with a brief to allocate roles within the teams, including a project leader, two story writers, two ad writers and two designers (not easy for the smaller teams!), with just half an hour to plan, organise and agree on roles. Not an easy task, but something each and every team took to with relish and some skill. Let’s just say the mentors and my fellow judge had seen far less impressive organisation and co-ordination in the workplace and sixth-form education over the years! I was joined for the morning session by fellow freelance writer, Keith Bradshaw, a good friend of Balshaw's with 25 years teaching behind him, now better known for his Leyland Leader community advertising venture. Keith and I were ‘winging it’ early on, aiming to inspire the pupils towards their task rather than bore them with details of our own journalist and publishing endeavours. As it was, they soon proved they didn't need too much coaching anyway. For this was clearly a competent and ultra- creative group of individuals. That word individual probably isn't right there, for there was a superb teamwork ethos throughout. Each group quietly but assuredly went about the day, working out - without any obvious verbal battles - who would do what and why. English teachers from each school joined us as we roamed from table to table, offering advice as to where the teams might be best served to concentrate their efforts, and help get those creative juices flowing. Within the hour, it was clear our work was done. I tried subtly suggesting a few pointers, but could see they were well on with the task, and certainly fired up. Keith and I duly sidled off, myself committed to a post-lunch return to join Nicola for the judging. And that's where the real hard work started, trying best to decide on the overall winner and runner-up, leaving the teachers to decide on a teamwork award. In the end, we agreed on the Ice Cream Sunday project by a Balshaw's team that seemed to offer the full package, a near perfectly-pitched publication just right for age six and seven children, and likely to delight boys but interest girls too. While the lads floated the idea, we were surprised to learn it was the girls on the team who did the writing. We loved the pun in the title, the story itself, the great use of easy to follow text, nicely broken up by pictures, and the advertising pitch. That they should win was harsh on many others, not least the runners-up from Hutton GS, whose Where's our Fries? might have lost half a point for going beyond the word count, but produced a superb story and creative project with a cleverly thought-out message. The marketing was brilliant, and they certainly did their homework - answering every question we might have had about age-appropriate content. At least three more deserved at least second-place, with special mention for the splendid artwork, imagery and marketing possibilities explored by the Lostock Hall team behind The Amazing Adventures of Charlie, its copy neatly broken up and its vocabulary spot on, clearly deserving their teamwork prize. The same could be said of the alliterative, colourful, wonderfully-presented and also well thought-out Lucy and Lenny from the other talented Balshaw’s team. That's not taking anything away from the St Mary’s teams behind A Present To Remember, producing a creative project with much thought and added expression, and Panic! for its clever advertising approach, neat lay-out and strong moral message. The same went for Worden’s brilliantly-presented Dreams Do Come True, again pensive and imaginative, and where even the fine prose was poetic, and the passionately-pitched A Perfect Disaster with its great imagery and simple but effective cover. To those who missed out on the awards on the day, I can only apologise. It sounds trite, maybe, but you really were all winners. .