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Raising confidence by giving young people a voice (and a stage!)
25 Oct 2010
Area Delivery Organisation: Cre8us - Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire
Coventrians who miss out on snapping up coveted tickets for Glastonbury next year should look no further than their home city to get their music fix - thanks to students at Coundon Court School and Community College in Coventry.
Talented year 12 and 13 students are working towards organising their own mini Glastonbury-style festival at Coombe Abbey next summer (2011)!
The project follows a hugely successful 'Battle of the Bands' event that the students held at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre as part of their BTEC media course in July, which was the exciting showcase for the school's first year as an Enquiry School with Cre8us. The competition attracted entries from 14 schools across the city, with everything from ticket sales and sponsorship - to publicity and backstage production - all planned, project managed and handled, right from the outset, by the Coundon Court students.
The resounding success of the night, and all the project work that led up to it, was followed by students all achieving results which exceeded predictions and has led to Coundon Court's link-up with Cre8us being praised by other schools from across the region.
Cathryn Goodwin, Cre8us Programme Manager, said: "The achievements of this group of students has been nothing short of tremendous. Every single one of the students exceeded their predicted scores and many of them produced work which was considered equivalent to degree level... the project was all about giving the students full responsibility for a project and enabling them to unpick the learning that had gone on within it, both from the perspective of the students and also the staff, and identifying the invaluable skills they have picked up along the way. It was such a resounding success that the school is now hopeful of making the 'Battle of the Bands' an annual event and the students can also take the skills and confidence they have developed from the programme into their upcoming music festival project and the rest of their course... and beyond."
Coundon Court student Becky Wolff, aged 17, said the group is delighted with the impact that the project with Cre8us is having on their development. "Everyone at Cre8us was so enthusiastic about this project and we were recently asked to meet headteachers from across the region who wanted to hear all about the impact it has had on our learning, and they were all so impressed with what we had to say!"
"We're now in the process of organising our own music tour and also a mini-Glastonbuty festival at Coombe Abbey which will involve a lot of hard work but we can certainly take a lot from what we learned with 'Battle of the Bands'"
If you would like to find out more please visit: www.cre8us.org.uk - or contact Gemma Smith, Cre8us Programme Coordinator: info@cre8us.org.uk
