Learning & Development: Sense of Time - Beneath the waves

April 21 marks the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, and as part of a number of city-wide projects, children at Rudston Infants School embarked on a journey of exploration to find out more about Liverpool's connections with the tragic ship.

Commenting on the tragedy, and referring to the Maritime Museum's Titanic and Liverpool exhibition, writer Dr Alan Scarth notes, 'Not only was the Titanic's sinking a major world event, the tragedy was a bitter blow to the port and the people of Liverpool.'

Liverpool is one of five cities holding events relating to the Titanic in 2012. The ship was designed in Liverpool and registered to the city, although it never actually visited.

About 90 members of the crew came from Liverpool, including the two lookouts who spotted the iceberg.

This month marks the staging of the Sea Odyssey Extravaganza (1), Merseyside's biggest piece of street theatre, when Liverpool will host a three-day parade of giant puppets - one, a 30ft Little Girl Giant, who will wander the city in search of news of her father, a stowaway who died on board the ill-fated liner.

Given the ship's significance to the city, Geraldine Mulhaney, Rudston's EYFS lead, explains, 'The school felt it was important for pupils' families that we acknowledge the loss of the Titanic, because ships and the sea are part of the city's heritage and many families were affected at the time.'

STORYTELLING

Many of the projects that the children have been involved in have focused on talk and its connections with writing. As part of the Sea Odyssey Extravaganza, musicians, artists and storytellers have visited the school, providing ways for the whole school to become involved in the parade and reflect on why the giant puppets will be coming to the City.

They are also one of ten schools involved in the Telling Tales Project (2), which aims to develop young children's confidence as storytellers through involving parents.

In the initial Tiny Tales phase of the project, Foundation Stage children and their parents recounted stories about their own lives. The project then progressed to consider a range of stories including 'yarns', a retelling of known stories.

In the final phase of the project the children develop their skills as writers with the help of scribes such as their teachers, parents and older siblings and through their own mark-making and writing.

In Rudston's case, many stories have been brought to life for the school in their encounters with the history of the Titanic. Among them, it emerged that one child's great-great-grandfather had been on board the rescue ship, the Carpathia, which had sailed to the Titanic's rescue and had retained the original list of survivors. Another forebear of a child had recited a poem at a memorial event in the City's St George's Hall following the disaster.

FAMILY RESEARCH

Families researched and discussed the Titanic with their children through using books, the internet and visiting the Maritime Museum. The children shared their research in school with the adults and their friends, talking through what they had learnt. They then chose their favourite information to record in the classroom.

One five-year-old, Abbie, who visited the Titanic exhibition brought her home-school book back scribed by her mother telling her teachers, 'I went to the maritime Museum with daddy to find out about the Titanic. This is what I learnt:

• The Titanic is a famous ship

• It crashed into an iceberg

• It got a big hole in it

• It split in half

• It sank to the bottom of the sea.'

Abbie's mother had written in her book: 'Abbie really enjoyed learning about the Titanic - Abbie did all the typing of her story. She could hear and find lots of sounds in the words she needed, and wrote some two-letter words without any help. Well done, Abbie!'

LEARNING STYLES

When asked why children are so enthusiastic about their learning, teachers at Rudston identified a number of important factors as essential ingredients of the school's ethos. The first is enthusiasm and inspiration, described by one of the team as, 'the whole school breathing and eating it'. Next, the school works hard to ensure an inclusive approach in which different learning styles are catered for. This may explain why the school's writing outcomes in the EYFS Profile buck the national trend, with boys shown to be above average, with results not dissimilar to the girls', who also achieve above the national levels. Reception teachers Rachel Sizer and Clare Jones are convinced that speaking and listening are key to the children's development.

Clare, who has led a speaking and listening project at the school for a number of years, says, 'If children haven't said it, they can't write it. To get the best from children's writing there has to be 'talk, talk, talk!' 'But before there is talk,' Rachel tells us, 'the children have to "feel" their learning.

'For example, when they were learning about the Titanic 'they talked about the roles of the ship's crew and what they did. The children learned about the Captain, Edward John Smith, and wanted to find out other roles to use in their imaginative play: captain, officers, first mates, lookouts, engine room workers, mail workers, kitchen staff and lots of others. We made a freeze frame (3) of the crews' roles as the Titanic struck the iceberg. They took their roles very seriously.'

Taking up the story Geraldine describes how 'Titanic models appeared in the block play indoors, in the Barn and outdoors - the famous four funnels were made, the deck, the railings, the lifeboats and the ship's wheel.'

'In our "talking tub", we had various objects, photographs and documents to help us develop our learning about the Titanic. The children explored the objects from the "Talking tub" by handling, looking carefully, thinking and talking about what they could see.

'We built on this interest by looking carefully at different photographs and sketches of the Titanic. We explored the language of ships - port, starboard, bow, stern, crow's nest, deck, funnels - by making the parts using big junk modelling.

'The children showed an interest in the engine room because coal was used to produce steam to power the boilers and move the Titanic forward. In outdoor learning the children used den-making skills to create underwater worlds based on what they thought was under the waves.'

SPIN-OFFS

Play and learning are closely connected at Rudston, and the spin-offs from children's interests led to all sorts of things, even ballroom dancing. Geraldine explains, 'Some of the Foundation Stage children learned to waltz with the Year 6 children. This was then built on in PE sessions using music. The children worked together to create the movements for the ladies and gentlemen. All the children enjoyed dancing as they would have done on the Titanic.'

The Titanic may have been beneath the sea for a hundred years but memories of it still live in the city and will be talked about in this school for a long time to come, where all the children have lived and breathed the stories and older children composed music to accompany their re-telling of the Titanic's fateful maiden voyage.

The school's teachers are clear that their success comes from:

• following children's interests

• involving parents in children's learning

• providing an environment that emphasises the importance of talk, play and movement

• having confidence in children as learners

• sharing children's enthusiasms and firing their imaginations so that they love learning.

As children grow up and tell tales of their own schooldays, many will recall learning about the Titanic a hundred years after it was lost at sea.

Written by Ann Langston with grateful thanks for the words and the work of teachers at Rudston Infants school: Geraldine Mulhaney, EYFS co-ordinator and AST; Rachel Sizer and Clare Jones, reception class teachers.

FOOTNOTES

1. For more information on the Sea Odyssey and parade, to be held on 20-22 April, see: www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/ regional-news/2012/03/29/ liverpool-sea-odyssey-giants-route-revealed-maps-99623-30646651/ #ixzz1r5xUTzmd and www.visitliverpool.com/whats-on/search/sea-odyssey-p304651

2. The Telling Tales Project is led by Early Years Matters (www.earlyyearsmatters.co.uk). For further information, email: info@earlyyearsmatters.co.uk

3. Freeze-framing: Children 'freeze' and are photographed at key points in the story, with each image representing items or parts of the story.