As part of our continued effort to improve our now>press>play Experiences in enhancing the primary curriculum, we’ve enlisted the help of pupils from Chisenhale Primary School in Tower Hamlets, London.
Our Children’s Advisory Board is made up of children spanning the whole school, helping to give us the low-down on how they find immersive learning and how we can increase their understanding of the curriculum.
Meet our Advisory Board:
Hooda, Year 6 — Wants to be a teacher and thinks schools should be a fun place to learn.
Colin, Year 3 — Interested in Football and wishes that children could play all day long.
Nina, Year 3 — Loves horse-riding and would like a bouncy castle for their school.
Sally, Year 3 — Likes ice-skating and enjoys ICT lessons, thinks playing in school is important.
Polly, Year 4 — Loves to dance and to be with animals, she hopes to become a zoologist.
Lola, Year 4 — Enjoys reading and thinks schools should be colourful places to learn.
Mustafa, Year 3 — Wants to be a footballer and wants his class to be remembered.
Isaac, Year 6 — Wants to be a doctor and thinks schools should do more now>press>play.
Elsie, Year 6 — Wants to be an actress and thinks schools should create a fun environment for learning.
Our first meeting
In our first meeting with the Children’s Advisory Board, they gave us some valuable feedback on using now>press>play in their school. Here are some of their insightful comments:
“It helped me understand how to use maths in the real world,” said Polly. She’d like now>press>play to make an Experience for “Radius/Angles/Diameters because the Experiences help me to remember.”
Mustafa said the day after he did now>press>play he had to “write about it, and it helps me know what’s happening because I imagined it and then wrote about it.”
Lola particularly liked “the descriptive language used in the stories,” and she’d like to do now>press>play as part of maths and literacy in the morning.
Elsie informed us that after her class listened to the Ancient Egypt Experience, they had to write a report. “It really helped give us ideas and helped with vocabulary. I think without it, it would have been harder and taken longer thinking of what to write.”
Sally said her class did an art lesson after they listened to now>press>play and it helped her “imagine what to draw.”
Isaac thought that “using your imagination to learn is better than just being told something.”
Overall, the Advisory Board thought now>press>play was helping them to learn. Mrs James, Chisenhale’s headteacher, said she thought the impact on the children was positive and was impressed by their insights into how now>press>play “helped their learning — I was really inspired!”
We’re looking forward to our next meeting, where we will be asking the Board their opinion on what curriculum topics they’d like us to do next.