Ceremonies and sounds at dawn: Year 4 learners at Barry Island and Cadoxton Primary Schools

Why was the project needed? The project has strong links with art, music and dance in the Key Stage 2 curriculum. It also fulfils many areas of the English programme of study, and links with elements of history. It enables teachers to deliver the relevant sections of the national LNF for Year 4 in terms of Literacy, specifically: Oracy – Developing and presenting information and ideas – Speaking, Listening, Collaboration and discussion Writing – Organising ideas and information – Meaning, purposes, readers, Structure and organisation Writing – Writing accurately – Language. The numeracy elements of the project are not focused upon here though the learners were able to ‘use calendars to plan events’. In addition, both schools aim to broaden the learners’ horizons, giving them access to wider experiences and lifelong learning.

How did the collaboration come about? Dylan Adams, a freelance music, philosophy and creativity specialist, initiated the project which was welcomed by the head teachers of both Barry schools. His ideas, expertise and resources were integral to the project. The artist was known to both head teachers and had worked in Barry previously. He led separate workshops at the schools culminating in a dawn performance on a local beach one week before the summer solstice of The performance needed two ‘tribes’ and therefore collaboration between the schools was necessary so that each had an audience for their work.

What planning took place? The teachers and the artist planned workshops where learners would focus on listening, collaboration and discussion skills to develop their performances, generating their own ideas and using their previous knowledge, for example, when making pottery to use as offerings and developing dance movements that reflected those seen in cave paintings and geological patterns. The artist ed an initial outline of the project to the schools prior to the first workshops but much of the subsequent work relied on the learners’ own ideas within this framework. He and the schools communicated via and text after the initial conversations that set the project in motion.

What prior work was done by learners to prepare for the project? No specific work was done to prepare for the project but teachers at Barry Island wished to build on previous work relating to Neolithic life and art and, at Cadoxton, to their Dream for a Druid topic.

What was the project? Week 1 The project began in the second week of the summer term, 2014, with a day’s workshop in each school. The learners focused on: considering the roles required by the performance – dancers, warriors, musicians, craftsmen, poets/bards listening attentively to sounds in the environment. This led to poetry writing with the lead phrase, ‘It was so quiet, I could hear ’ mind-mapping ideas about a sacred place – link with Celtic cave where the sun shines through an opening at the summer solstice talking about the sunrise and the summer solstice and whether any learner had experienced this magical time between night and day thinking about music in terms of beat, rhythm and voice and exploring the use of drums, didgeridoos and chanting with half the group being dancers and half musicians/singers.

What was the project? Week 2 At a second day’s workshop in each school a week later, learners rehearsed their performance in the morning session, each perfecting a hakka as well as their dance and music to welcome the Sun. They then made pottery using Neolithic designs on clay provided by the artist. This was to be used to present offerings at the final ceremony before being smashed as part of the ritual.

What was the project? Performance An afternoon ‘dress rehearsal’ was organised for the whole ceremony on June 13 th when the two school groups met on the beach and performed for each other. This was a great success as all the learners involved were present – something that wasn’t possible the next day when the final ceremony took place at dawn as it required learners and parents to be at Jackson’s Bay at 4.50a.m. For those who were able to be there it was indeed a magical experience and one the learners will remember for a long time.

What were the outcomes in terms of impact on learners? Learners showed great enthusiasm for the project and their ability to collaborate, to discuss and make plans, to reflect and to express their feelings showed improvement. Their ability to work independently also increased as they responded to such an unusual and interesting focus. They gained inspiration from the artist’s input so that their poetry, including that written by learners with additional needs, showed imagination and an ambitious use of vocabulary. Cadoxton learners also attempted report writing to record what had happened. They demonstrated their ability to work well within a group and their speaking and listening skills were also enhanced by having to plan carefully in order to perform to an unfamiliar audience. The head teacher of one of the schools reports that this and other imaginative projects are leading to improved standards of literacy with elements of Level 6 work being achieved by some learners.

In music at Barry Island, teachers use the project to help the learners explore beat, timbre, rhythm, dynamics, duration and texture in their music making, linking the work to more instruments and layers and to composition and appraisal. A display with a QR code was generated for the learners’ iPads and placed on Barry Island School’s website. There has also been considerable activity on social networks where parents have shown their appreciation of the event. What follow up work did the teacher do? In both schools, writing about the event took place and learners appeared more motivated and able to produce some more extended pieces of work. Speaking and listening activities continue to focus on the project and have included an evaluation of the performance by the learners.