Working with Jonluke McKie and Hawthorn Primary School across the summer and autumn terms of 2024, we co-designed this artists’ residency to build on and extend the brilliant work the school have been doing to support childrens’ communication and oracy skills. Jonluke began with Year 2 and Year 3 in June 2024 and moved with them into Year 3 and Year 4 respectively after the summer break.
The result of their work is “Listen Up, Speak Out!” A beautiful, evocative short film celebrating friendship, understanding and the different ways children can help each other feel valued and connected.
Jonluke used drama games and techniques to help the children identify attitudes and behaviours which can challenge communication and ways we can respond creatively to these challenges and keep talking, keep listening. He stressed the importance of drama games in the main hall to build up a relationship with children before moving to the classroom, and the the value of that physicality to build rapport and open children and their teaching teams up to free associations and imaginative play.
Children learned to say “YES” to their own and each others’ ideas, and share their speaking turns with others who found it hard to speak up for themselves.
“Say yes to ideas, GLOW Newcastle, Jonluke McKie and Hawthorn Primary School
Each session worked towards the development of the two main characters, Tyler and Jessica, who eventually meet in the film and help each other get through a difficult day.
“Every time you watch it, you notice something else.” Joanne Kennedy
“It’s really delightful,” Joanne Kennedy, Year 3 teacher and School Lead on this residency said of the film. “Every time you watch it, you notice something else.”
Catherine McMullen, Year 4 teacher described how participating in the project had led her to discover “different ways of engaging children in the classroom, different hooks”. Being “used to knowing the outcome” of learning activities, made the co-creative approach used by Jonluke and GLOW Newcastle challenging, but ultimately highly rewarding.
Represent for those who don’t have a voice
Jane Dube, Headteacher at Hawthorn Primary School, said the work helped children be “the representative for someone who doesn’t have a voice.” According to Jane, as a result of the project children have been “looking out for each other and encouraging each other. Staff have noticed how children will wait for someone else to speak, listen and “say yes to ideas” following their work with Jonluke and GLOW Newcastle.