When a representative from a company that smelts and refines tin to make souvenirs for the tourist trade came to our school to talk about its business, we decided our pupils would work on a website for the company. A group of Year 5 and 6 pupils worked on the project. They had a lot of discussions with the firm, talking about products, presentation and company image, before taking digital pictures and composing the site.
It was a wonderful opportunity to put literacy into context as the children had to think of the target audience and the image the company wanted to convey. On their own websites, children will often use outlandish motifs and colours, but they soon learn they can’t do this for a company or another organisation.
Subsequently, pupils have worked with other organisations, including the Cornwall Heritage Trust, to make websites for them. Often what ultimately appears is not exactly what the children devised but their input is obvious and they certainly kick-started the project.
If we came across another company that was prepared to come and talk to the pupils, we would work with them. It doesn’t have to be a big company, it could be a shop, for example.
To see the original website for the Blue Hills Tin Stream company visit our school website: www.stithians.cornwall.sch.uk
Jim Seth, deputy headteacher, Stithians Community Primary School, Cornwall
