School Videos

We were first introduced to Digital Blue, an animation and film making software, by our City Learning Centre back in 2005/2006.  After this introduction, we began animation with Year 2 children.  The children developed lots of skills in animation and were really proud of their achievements.  As a result, we then introduced animation weeks for Year 1 and Year 2. 

As we became more confident in our animation skills, we decided to enter the Sheffield Steel City Globe Awards.  Two of our film entries were shortlisted and both won commendations for the high standard of work.  We then discovered live action, as well as animation, and decided to enter a live action film we had made into the Sheffield Steel City Globe Awards.  Our live action film won ‘best film’ in our category.  After this success, we decided to start a successful and popular after-school film club. 

In 2008, we decided to apply for a grant with First Light and we had our application accepted.  We then began to make our film ‘Don’t go down through the woods’ with a professional film company called C-Media.  We entered this film into seven National film festivals and two International film festivals.  Our film was shortlisted in all of the festivals and it won two awards – ‘Best Film’ in Durham and ‘Best International’ in Washington, USA.

The year after this success, we raised funds to work with C-Media again, producing a new film called ‘Magic Cupboard’.  This film was also entered into numerous film festivals.

In 2011, we applied to First Light again, but this time for a more challenging grant.  The grant required us to work alongside C-Media and produce three films.  One of the films required us to support another school. 

In 2012, we decided to lead a film project by ourselves with no professional support.  We built a focus group during our after-school film club where ideas and story lines were initiated by the children.  The Year 2 children produced and directed a film called ‘The Daydream’ – a 2D animation film made using magnets.  ‘The Daydream’ won a British Film Institute award in London for ‘Best Animation Film’ in the six to 12 years category.

Royd continues to produce animation films as part of our Computing curriculum.  This starts in Foundation Stage Two and continues through each year group.  The children develop their skill set through an exciting and creative curriculum.  As a school, we are very proud of the children’s success and achievements.