By Miss Cagnino

Year 8 enjoyed an enrichment day last week focusing on where we have come from. Students researched their own family stories and presented them in different ways to others during the day. Throughout the day we discussed the similarities between our stories as well as discovering how different we were as individuals, yet how do we still manage to come together as a community. They then linked the stories photographically with a portrait study of their own identity.

The Year 8s pre-prepared for the workshop by collecting information on interesting family members, with some bringing in copies of photographs and artefacts. For the photography workshop where we explored identity, they were also encouraged to come into school wearing clothes which represented who they are.

First up, guest speaker and writer Hannah Lowe gave a fantastic talk with advice on creative writing and on how we can use writing to tell a personal story. Her own poetry was an inspirational starting point for our own stories. Students shared some brilliant and inspirational stories of their own – I particularly loved how these were linked to objects that had been in their families for years.

We then heard from alumna Georgia Macpherson, who works as a researcher for the BBC programme “Who Do You Think You Are?” Georgia spoke about her job, the show and the idea of learning about our families before answering our questions. We watched the episode with footballer and broadcaster Alex Scott and thought about how celebrities react to their own family histories.

In the afternoon, students took part in a creative mind mapping exercise in groups of five based around an interesting family story. The groups then discussed the similarities and differences between all the stories, exploring how we can make connections between each other, before reflecting on what they had learned from each other.

The Year 8s also participated in an Identity Photography Workshop when they thought about what is it that makes us who we are.  They looked at the details of our bodies and appearances and made a list of things that make us identifiable as us, before exploring a set of anonymous images and what they said about a community. Finally, the students worked in pairs to take a series of photos which showed the ideas discussed in the workshop.

Students then presented their own stories in any way they liked – a poem, story, newspaper article, radio/interview transcript or even a script for a play – before sharing them on their own Google sites.

We will be showing the finished photographs and websites during the upcoming photography exhibition on the 10th February.