Rebecca dreams that “with the dolphins I can swim and in the sea I’d hold on to their fin”. “On Christmas Eve,” Amelia hopes to see “chocolate falling from the tree”. Joshua wants to “play for Leeds United. See the fans being so excited”. Connor? He hopes to be a “football millionaire, even though it’s very rare”. Abdul wishes that “the world will be without crime, I want the sun to always shine”. Daniel dreams of “being a snooker player, I don’t want to be a great big failure”. And Danielle? “I dreamt last night I saw a butterfly. My mum was singing a lullaby.”

These are the dreams, aspirations and apprehensions of nine and 10-year-olds as articulated by a class of 25 Leeds schoolchildren. It’s part of a collaborative web-based project sponsored by arts@leeds (Leeds Leisure Services) and supported by funding from the Government’s Single Regeneration Budget.

The Snapshots project evolved from a photography and literacy scheme in the Hunslet area of Leeds that focused on space - “Where I live” - and identity - “Who am I?” The success of this initial project, with two primary schools, culminated in an exhibition at Leeds City Library, and persuaded Louisa Ashley of Unlimited Theatre - a local company that produces “devised and scripted pieces of theatre for schools and communities” to develop a web element to the programme. The company’s education programmes use theatre techniques as a means to promote and foster creativity, self-esteem and innovation. After consultations with arts@leeds a partnership was set up with Synergy TV.

Phase one of the project, now complete, involved pupils and staff at Hawksworth Wood Primary. Children at the school composed poems on the theme of Hopes and Dreams for the Future and took photographs with digital and disposable cameras to illustrate both their poems and the twin themes of space and identity. Audio clips of the poems were made and each child’s contribution was put on the Snapshots website, hosted by Synergy.

The children had a range of ICT competency, says Louisa Ashley, and although most were able to use the school computers, additional hands-on training was given. “We spent time watching how the children interacted with the pages and made some small tweaks,” says Mark Riches of Synergy, “but basically the pupils loved using it and rapidly found their way around.”

Pupils were then encouraged to input material, which they were able to do from school, home and the local community association. With fewer than 20 per cent of children having internet access at home the community association played a significant part in the project, particularly during the summer holidays.

Snapshots was designed to allow children direct, if mediated, access to the website, and to enable them to alter content as and when they wanted. An administrative section was created for teachers and community centre staff, enabling them to oversee web material before it went live. The teacher or administrator was alerted to the pupils’ requests to change their page and could approve it by clicking a button to place the content live on the web. As simple as that. Teachers became, in the parlance, “super users” and could see at a glance which children had made updates. They could also set up new users and change passwords.

The project is not accessible to the general public. Anyone wishing to visit the site has to be vetted by Synergy before being given a password (details below).

Both Synergy and Unlimited Theatre are keen for other pupils to experience the benefits of the project and are discussing how to develop the scheme with other partners. A two-pronged approach is being taken. One is to develop the project further with current partners, into an internet radio service for the school and community, possibly exploring an inter-generational element, another is to make links with other schools and local authorities, to assess their needs and develop the project accordingly.

Andrea Padden, headteacher at Hawksworth Wood, believes that: “The project has taught the children important ICT and literacy skills and has strengthened links between the school and the community association by making the project live on beyond the four walls of the school.”

The benefits of Snapshots are twofold. Teachers and project workers have no doubt that participating children have developed their ICT skills - skills which Louisa Ashley believes can “give the children the confidence to tackle creative and technical problems and tasks in an enthusiastic manner, rather than being daunted by what is required. They have also developed ‘soft skills’ - self-esteem, self-confidence and the ability to challenge assumptions”.

There has also been an improvement in literacy and oral skills. Mark Riches of Synergy TV calls the process “raising the bar”. “We noticed that pupils were aware that their work wouldn’t be hidden in a school book and their friends would be able to see their work, and the teachers noticed the standard of work and level of concentration was higher than normal.”

Specifically, the project reinforced several strands of the curriculum at key stage 2. In ICT children have learned how to share and exchange information, how to think carefully about content and quality when communicating information and how to find and use information - downloading images from the school network, for example.

They have also gained familiarity with new ICT processes and developed practical and compositional skills in photography.

All 25 pupil profiles showed a lively understanding of issues that affect themselves and society. Crime, litter and sport seemed to be the predominant concerns. Using “Hopes and Dreams” as a theme clearly motivated the children and future projects are being mooted which could introduce other key themes in the citizenship curriculum.

In English, both written and oral skills were undoubtedly enhanced by the Snapshots project. Children were allowed to articulate their ideas and aspirations in a manner that encouraged the imaginative use of language.

Overall, everyone involved with the project - children, teachers, professional support staff and community workers - has benefited.

Class teacher Stephanie Brettell thought it “a brilliant opportunity for the children to become part of the worldwide net and think deeply about what was important to them. They enjoyed themselves immensely and have gained much more than we had initially hoped for.”

In Louisa Ashley’s opinion, the project was nothing less than “an incredibly energising and inspirational experience for all involved”.

If you would like help in creating a Snapshots-type project, contact Mark Riches at SynergyTV Tel: 0113 246 9989Email: mark.riches@synergy.tv RM offers a tailored, secure web building service for primary and secondary schools. RM SafetyNet Plus “allows schools to have complete control over what websites, web searches and file extensions their users can access. This means that schools can determine the way the internet is used within school in accordance with their Acceptable Internet Use Policy”. Details at: www.rm.comPrimaryProductsYou can show your students’ work on the internet at the Walkers Showcase www.walkersshowcase.co.ukindex.jsp Once schools have been registered and verified they can upload material to this online gallery which also has a school of the month competition. Creative work is included from Year 1 to sixth-form.Sensible advice on all topics of internet safety including uses of email in education and the use of pupil photographs on school websites can be found at:

http:safety.ngfl.gov.ukschools

Useful resources

Becta (British Educational and Communications Technology Agency) and the Guardian newspaper have been running an educational website awards scheme since 1999.

www.becta.org.ukwebsiteawardseffectivedesign.html

Becta has collated a large database of information on what does and does not work in educational web publishing. Advice is available for both new andexperienced web builders at www.becta.org.ukwebsiteawards effectivedesign.html

This month Becta is publishing a free CD-Rom, Making Web Sites Work.

This can be ordered by emailing your postal details to makingwebsiteswork@becta.org.uk.

The CD-Rom offers advice on web publishing from Primary schools to post-16 education, community sites to National Grid for Learning content providers. It includes case studies of the 2002 winners of the awards, together with a selection of previous winners and other examples of best practice across a range of scenarios when publishing on the web.

Two further documents can be downloaded from the Becta site: Designing Effective Web Sites gives general advice on topics such as how to plan a website, what content to use, structure, navigation, privacy and security; Routes to Web Publishing contains specific and helpful recommendations on appropriate webpage-creating software, web hosting companies, file formats and Internet Service Providers.

Incidentally, many of the BectaGuardian award-winning sites were created with simple word-processing tools.

Picture this

The Snapshots project used a combination of digital and disposable (single use) cameras. All images must be digitised before being uploaded to a website. Digital images are already in the correct format, but images taken withdisposable cameras need to be scanned. Be aware that the higher the scanning resolution, the larger the file.

File types and sizes are important. Generally, image file sizes should be limited to 20kilobytes and sound files to 200kb. Many digital editing programs now offer a “save for web” option which will automatically save images in either JPEG or GIF file format (both are common formats for image files). Snapshots displays up to five image files, one text file and one sound file on a single web page. Each web page contains one pupil’s portfolio and loads in seconds.

Have a go yourself

There are numerous web-building and website-hosting resources available, many of them free. Commercial or educational, your internet service provider (ISP) will have software tools to enable you to create a website and load content onto that site.

Popular free web-hosting companies include Yahoo! GeoCities (http:geocities.yahoo.com) Angelfire (http:angelfire.lycos.com) and Tripod (www.tripod.lycos.com). Be aware that these sites require you to take advertising, some of which (gambling) would certainly not be appropriate. That said, the huge SchoolsNet site (www.schoolsnet.com) which provides lesson plans, revision notes and links to schools throughout the UK carries adverts from the likes of Ford and Persil.

Most schools will already have software to create web pages. Microsoft Word can turn a page of ordinary text into a web document at a single click. The “Save for Web” option creates an instant web page. For details of how to create web pages using either Microsoft Word or Publisher see Basic Web Page Creation using Word and Basic Web Pages using Publisher both by AA Richards, published by Payne-Gallway are recommended (www.payne-gallway.co.uk juice.htm). More sophisticated programs include Macromedia DreamWeaver, Adobe GoLive and Microsoft FrontPage.

Teaching tips

Security is a prime issue with projects such as Snapshots. Synergy was “very aware of the child protection issues around the internet and have had to walk a line which provides a secure environment without dampening the creativity of the project”. Children featured on the website are only referred to by their first names and the school is not mentioned. The site is not open to the public and is password protected.

Introduce children to the different components of the project. In Snapshots, pupils were shown the content management system and an example web page was created using all the elements they would need to put together a web page.

Focus on a topic which will stimulate children. “Hopes and Dreams” and “Space and Identity” allowed them to articulate their ideas with passion and involvement.

Professionals such as Unlimited Theatre and Synergy bring particular skills and perspectives to a project, freeing teachers to do what they do best - teach.

Involve the wider community.

Children were able to log on at the local community centre during the summer holidays. The project also received enthusiastic coverage in the local press.

Extend your possibilities. Snapshots started life as a photography exhibition before the inspired decision to take it into cyberspace.

Where possible, use familiar technology. Staff at Synergy realised the children’s experience with the school’s learning network helped them become familiar with the web-based system.

* Unlimited Theatre and Synergy TV are hoping to expand the project and would like to hear from interested schools. Contact Mark Riches Tel: 0113 246 9989

Email: mark.riches@synergy.tv; or Louisa Ashley: Louisa@unlimited.org.uk