Sparhawk Speaks

Norfolk and Norwich Festival

Mysterious object lands in school playground

The staff at Sparhawk Infant & Nursery in Sprowston believe strongly that the way to truly empower children is to give them a voice that will make a difference to their world.

The ‘Who Talks, Who Listens’ project involved a mysterious object arriving in the school playground with messages to give to the children. These messages were open-ended questions that became vehicles to explore children’s ideas, thoughts and perceptions of their place in the world and their impact upon it.

A film crew and reporter gleaned views from parents and children and a scientist stimulated scientific enquiry and exploration. Repeat visits from the practitioners provided further stimulation to pupil investigations and the five week project culminated in a film made by the film-crew documenting the process and providing a strong environmental message for the community.

"Our expectations about the potential of this project have been truly exceeded. The quality of speaking, listening, writing and art work has been of the highest standard and the children have made remarkable progress in their key skills during this term’s work," said head teacher Carina Ingham.