ENGLISH: Return to Bude (Student Age 10-11)
Our Year Six pupils had recently spent four nights on a residential trip to Bude. We wanted to harness their exhilaration from this experience to generate some fantastic descriptive writing which needed to have a factual grounding that would build on their previous learning about geographical features. Our Year Six pupils have been travelling to Bude for their residential trip for years now and it is always used as a stimulus for writing but with our ClassVR headsets and 360° camera, we’ve captured the moments that our children remember, so their VR experience was personal to them.
Zara Conisbee
Primary School Teacher
PRACTICAL SESSION
The children worked in two groups for their ClassVR experience. Half of the group were given ordinary photographs taken during the trip, whilst the other half had on the headsets showing a playlist of our 360° photos taken whilst in Bude. The two groups swapped over half way through. The children were enthusiastic about the opportunity to use the new VR technology and spotting themselves in the images brought a real thrill to the session. After the initial delight, the children were expected to note down the geographical features that they had encountered and this was to be done during and after viewing the photos. This was achievable using the VR images, but it was the descriptive phrases that they produced after reliving their days in Bude that were so impressive and really stood out after the lesson finished.
IMPACT ON LEARNING
The writing outcomes were fantastic! Despite returning from Bude several weeks earlier, the finer details that the children had seemingly forgotten were uncovered using the ClassVR headsets. The children managed to organise their ‘memories’ and write in much greater detail having viewed the 360° photos. Not only did the photos have a positive impact on their writing, the joy it brought to the children to reminisce about such a wonderful experience was priceless!
The Bude trip is a highly valued tradition in our school and the younger children look forward to it with great anticipation but also a degree of anxiety. We plan to use ClassVR in coming years to prepare our Year Sixes for their adventure.