Testimonials

“What surprised me more than anything was how much they wrote. The act of making a short video really motivated them to work hard on their writing and sentence level work rather than me having to push them as I usually do. ”

Jane Brandon,
St George’s International Primary School

“The power of LitFilmFest never ceases to amaze me!”

Kirstie Britton,
Ainthorpe Primary School

“It has been amazing! Quality of writing incredible and lots of things to improve next year!”

Helen Nicholson,
Windwhistle Primary School

“The creative element of the project meant their writing was fantastic. It was great to see the more reluctant writers take ownership of the filming and how that spurred them on to improve their writing so they could make as impressive a trailer as possible. ”

Mohammed Haji,
Copenhagen Primary School

“I've been really pleased with the outcome of the class videos. They independently created their own school prospectus video, which the Head then used as part of our open evening for new parents. The scaffold provided through the resources were instrumental in their success.”

MB,
Year 3 Teacher

“We created some great little videos but the writing was the thing that stood out. The sentence level work was really easy to integrate into the flow of the lessons and made a big difference to the quality of work.”

Richard Piggford,
STEP Turnham Academy

“Their confidence grows, and they make great progress because they know that they need to work hard if they want to get their writing included in the final film.”

Rachel Preece-Dawson,
Grove Primary

“Upon viewing the first video with lesson one, my class was hooked, and upon seeing the clear success criteria, so was I. From a teacher perspective, I appreciated that everything for the whole project was so well organised.”

Katie Westacott,
Kaimhill Primary

“"...the children planned, directed and then edited – far from perfect but totally their own work. It is also even more impressive that one of the children has complex special needs and never usually participates in group learning activities and is usually very reluctant to verbally interact with his peers; however, he thoroughly enjoyed the filming experience and even hugged the Headteacher to thank her for being part of it too; the child NEVER interacts with the headteacher, which made it all the more magical!"”

Anon,
Year 4 Teacher

“Most fun I’ve had teaching English in my eighteen years as a teacher.”

Jeff Melkert,
Dwellingup Primary School

“The children were gushing with ideas, not just about who would take what role, or what wig they wanted but about the actual writing and the process of getting to the best sentence possible. ”

Joy Groom,
Chiltern Primary School

“The fact that it came with excellent plans and resources for each session made this a cinch to use. These units really will take hours off your planning time and produce brilliant written results from your class, with engagement throughout.”

Laura Braun,
Bury C of E

“I’ve used El Dorado twice now, and both times, the pupils and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. The resources save so much teacher time: lessons are planned and easy to understand and IWB and printable resources are ready to use or adapt. ”

Rachel Preece-Dawson,
Sherriffhales Primary School

“I can’t recommend LitFilmFest highly enough. Really working for my class.”

Kelly Tarrant,
Icknield Primary School

“I can’t recommend LitFilmFest strongly enough! My class have made fabulous progress in writing and loved every minute.”

Catherine Miller,
Carnagill Community Primary School

“I’ve never found English so enjoyable in my whole life.”

Pupil,
Millway Primary School

“The new project is AMAZING! It should be compulsory in all schools!”

Rachel Preece-Dawson,
Sheriffhales Primary School

“Every lesson in Why I Play was planned meticulously and backed up with videos that had the children in stitches! The project stretched me as a teacher and allowed me to bring in my own interests for use of EdTech and filming within the curriculum.”

Richard Allen,
Copenhagen Primary School

“The peer assessment and sentence level work that is built into the project is something that not only cuts down on my marking but develops a culture of improvement that really works. Ideas and best practice are shared amongst the class in a scaffolded way that allows all abilities to thrive. ”

Richard Piggford,
STEP Turnham Academy

“I was surprised at just how enjoyable the kids found writing their instructions because, in the past, it was always a feature of writing that I didn’t really enjoy teaching because of the general lack of enthusiasm or inspiration.”

Richard Piggford,
STEP Turnham Academy

“The children really enjoyed writing speeches and the chance to hone their persuasive vocabulary. The opportunities for editing and improving writing worked really well and it was clear that children made great progress.”

Rachel Preece-Dawson,
Grove Primary

“We are LOVING this project! Total engagement from all abilities, super opportunities for group work. Thank you!”

Vicki Allen,
Tollgate Community Junior School

“Combining traditional and digital literacy was a dream. The children were so much more engaged from the get-go. Personally, I thought the project was amazing. ”

Carla Reeves,
Leasowes Primary School

“Wish we did LitFilmFest every term. Planning for next week all done in PPA today. Got my weekend back, thank you!”

Louise Atkinson,
Cumwhinton Primary School

“Not only were the pupils excited about filming their written project, but also extremely keen to design props and outfits for their trailer, based on research from their Vikings topic. ”

Kenny Bartonshaw,
Kingsland Academy

“I have used film and video in class many times before but the reason this project worked so well is that they were the storytellers, the experts. They knew that in order to do justice to the stories, they must feel real, not like the recount of a child. This became the driving force behind their truly incredible writing. ”

Adam Mitchell,
Billanook College

“The children have worked exceptionally hard on improving their writing and have been extremely engaged and motivated to produce their best writing ever across many different genres.”

Annette Patterson,
Blakehill Primary School

“My pupils have made half a year’s progress in seven weeks!”

Natalie Goosey,
Higham Ferrers Junior School

“Many of the skills which the children learned were above and beyond the English National Curriculum objectives in the lesson plans. Yes, they learned about parenthesis and adverbials (which was great), but they also developed their computing, group work, speaking and social skills. ”

Coral Powell,
Hotham Primary

“The input was easily adaptable and was able to challenge even the most capable year six pupils. My colleagues who had never experienced LitFilmFest projects before were incredibly impressed with the writing outcomes. ”

Tim Head,
Coddington Primary

“Excited is not the word. This is why I wanted to become a teacher.”

Graeme McCafferty,
Dulwich Preparatory School

“My class actually cheered when I told them we had a whole morning of literacy.”

Graham Andre,
Lanesend Primary School

“Using the Pupil Parliament project 100% improved literacy skills in my Year 6 class. They were all so enthusiastic; reluctant speakers and writers made massive progress as a result of being involved.”

Lisa Crowther,
Blessed Robert Widmerpool

“All of my children have improved by at least one sub-level, above half of them have improved by two sub-levels. Wow!”

Andrea Sorsby,
Ward Green Primary School

“Children are expected to make six points of progress a year. All my class made at least two points progress in seven weeks, with others making between three and five!”

Graham Andre,
Lanesend Primary School

“The project has been absolutely brilliant. The children have been so motivated.”

Catherine Miller,
Carnagill Community Primary School

“LitFilmFest projects really are fantastically planned and resourced. A pleasure to teach and with great results.”

Louise Atkinson,
Cumwhinton Primary School

“Thrilled with children’s progress in writing so far this half-term! Huge credit to LitFilmFest for an innovative and engaging project!”

Joe Perree,
St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School

“I just want to say how much my class are enjoying the project. They come in every morning asking when we are doing English which is brilliant!”

Emily Hopkins,
All Saints Upton Primary School

“Enjoyment, engagement, improvement, progress guaranteed!”

Sandra Thornton,
Melton Primary School

“Writing instructions can sometimes be a little dry. How to make a cheese sandwich... yawn. Link the instructions to your history topic; get to play an ancient game for yourselves and you are on to a winner.”

Rachel Preece-Dawson,
Grove Primary

“I’m not sure who’s having more fun, teacher or kids!”

Kate Marshall,
Ingatestone and Fryerning Junior School

“It was great to see children who normally find it hard to put pencil to paper really hooking into the creative aspect of the project and finding genuine motivation to write.”

Wendi Roberts,
St George’s International Primary School

“They were gripped from the very first lesson and this enthusiasm was maintained throughout, provoking in-depth discussions. Through meaningful activities such as report writing, questioning and interviews, every lesson gradually built upon the last and included planning, stimulus videos and tech guidance too. ”

Laura Venn,
Tubbenden

“The beauty of the project is that the children believed that they were having a great time making their videos. They did not realise or question the high quality English input they were receiving over a number of genres.”

Tim Head,
Coddington Primary