Year 5 and 6 took a left-field approach to their Autumn Term project,“Borough and the River Thames” Autumn Term project. They wanted to find an approach which would help the pupils to appreciate the amazing area in which they live and go to school. Every day, visitors flock to the tourist attractions of the South Bank and residents head to work in some of the capital’s most important theatres and tourist attractions found in the postal area of SE1. The pupils at Charles Dickens, however, take the central location in their stride and think nothing of making a quick afternoon trip to the Tate Modern or to visit the new Rambert dance studios!
Inspired by the website “Humans of New York,” the pupils have tried to capture a small slice of the diversity found amongst SE1’s residents, workers and visitors by taking photographs of the people that they encountered. In many instances, the pupils conducted interviews with their subjects – learning more about the people who work in the remarkable buildings which surround our school, and about how the area has changed and developed in the recent past. The children learnt how to take portraits – using digital SLR cameras – and greatly improved their speaking and listening skills through asking relevant questions and responding to their interviewees’ replies. Each class also created accompanying music – both choral and instrumental – representing the people who live, work and visit the area. The children’s work has been gathered together on this site.
We are indebted to many people who have helped to make this project possible. Mike Tsang, a professional photographer, taught the pupils how to take photographs effectively. Our resident musician, Pete Letanka, helped the pupils to compose the original pieces of music and Ian Buchanan created this website for us. In particular, we are grateful to the parents and professionals who gave up their time to be photographed and interviewed. The pupils were given the opportunity to meet scientists, directors, publishers, artists – to name just a few – and were shown that it really is possible to achieve your dream job! Of course, it is the pupils themselves who have truly risen to the challenge and we are very proud of what they have achieved. We hope that you will enjoy exploring the new website