This is Croydon - Secondary School Toolkit

Visit the website for more resources to bring This is Croydon into the classroom, and to find a downloadable certificate of participation to share with pupils to celebrate their completion of any This is Croydon school activity: CultureCroydon.com/Education

HAVE YOU SIGNED UP AS AN ARTS & CULTURE SCHOOL?

You can still sign up as a This is Croydon Arts & Culture School. Signing up will give you access to a half-termly e-newsletter of information for workshops, events, and free resources. Joining also demonstrates to pupils, parents, and the school community your commitment to the arts with a plaque for your reception and an e-badge for school websites and email footers. Visit the “Education” area of the This is Croydon website to find out how to sign up in just a few minutes: CultureCroydon.com/Education

WELCOME

This is Croydon is a year-long series of events, activities, projects, and creative commissions marking Croydon’s time as the London Borough of Culture between April 2023 and March 2024. The programme is a big, bold, and cross-cultural celebration exploring the borough’s unique identity, communities, heritage, culture, and creativity.

Supporting schools to get involved with this celebration is central to the plans for This is Croydon. School activities aim to build creative skills, explore society and community through self-expression, and open the eyes of pupils across the borough to the positive power of the arts.

How to use this pack

This toolkit contains ideas for running This is Croydon lessons with pupils primarily in KS3 level. However, lessons can be scaled up for older age groups by adapting discussion points and language used.

Each flexible lesson plan includes a warm-up activity, an inspirational stimulus from the This is Croydon programme, and suggested activities to run with your class.

But the ideas shared here are just the start. You can use the stimuli in different ways to support your own term projects or to focus on an area of particular interest to your pupils.

Download supporting resources

On the This is Croydon Education page you can find PowerPoint resources to support running these lessons. The slides include high resolution versions of the stimuli images or videos, ideal for sharing on an interactive whiteboard. Presentations can be edited or added to for your lessons.

Integrate activities across PSHE and the wider curriculum

Each lesson relates most closely to one area of the curriculum, however, the nature of the arts; as a tool for self-expression, a vehicle for teamwork and a way to explore social issues, makes each lesson ideal for exploring wider curriculum subjects, such as PSHE or Citizenship.

FIND OUT MORE

Find out more about the full school’s offer, and download the supporting PowerPoint presentations and certificate, at: CroydonCulture.Com/Education

SECONDARY LESSON ONE: MUSIC

CREATE YOUR OWN “THIS IS CROYDON” SONG

Introduction

The CR Talent Festival, held in July as part of the This is Croydon summer events programme, included performances from 1,000 performers from Croydon Music and Arts organisations and local primary schools. This lesson uses performances from the event to inspire activities in the classroom.

Key learning objective:

To perform, listen to, review, and evaluate music across a range of historical periods, genres, styles, and traditions.

1. WARM UP: CALL AND RESPOND

• Remind the group: what is a rhythm? (A pattern of sounds and silence)

• Call out or clap a rhythm towards each pupil.

• Pupils must repeat the rhythm back. If it’s not quite right the first time, repeat it again until it matches well. Now, ask pupils to create their own rhythm for the class to copy. How long or complicated can you make the rhythm before pupils can’t repeat it back?

• For more experienced pupils, you could start to introduce a wider range of musical concepts to this activity. Key words: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture.

2. BE INSPIRED: CLASS STIMULUS

Pick one of the performances below to show to the class as an example of the work of local musicians from Croydon. Each is available as an embedded video in the PowerPoint that accompanies this pack. Both are children’s songs, one from Jamaica, the other from South Asia. They were originally designed to be sung for babies and children, which can also be a discussion point for introduction, including sharing songs from pupils’ own childhoods.

The Weather Song – Jamaican Nursery Song

Performed by Kinetika.

https://youtu.be/CDtqX-wyoNg

Kaka Crow – A South Asian Song

Performed by Anusha Sabramanyam, Senjuti Das, and Vipul Sangoi

https://youtu.be/P568r4ly38E

SECONDARY LESSON ONE: MUSIC

3. RESPOND: LISTEN, REVIEW, CREATE

Watch your chosen video together, then follow these three steps:

Listen: Play the video again, but now ask the group to close their eyes, and concentrate on the music. Use the prompts to help students identify what is happening in the piece:

• What instruments can you hear?

• What rhythms can you hear (can you beat them out on the table?)

• What words or vocal sounds can you hear?

• Where do you think the music came from and why?

• What story are the musicians telling?

• What musical techniques are being used?

• How did the music make you feel?

Review: Alone or in pairs, ask pupils to consider what they heard and then write a review of the music.

• Pupils should imagine they work for a local paper or website and are reviewing the performance. What did they enjoy? What did they not enjoy? How did the performance make them feel? What audience would enjoy it most? Would they recommend it?

• You could bring in reviews from local papers as inspiration. Look together at the language used, and the information included.

Create: Now it’s time to make your own music. With pupils in pairs, ask them to:

• Think about what ‘This is Croydon’ means to them. They could write about the school community, their local area, their culture, friends, or family. Student scan use mind-mapping techniques to collect and group their ideas.

• Challenge the pairs to write a verse and chorus at a minimum for their song. You could put on a play list in the classroom as you work for further inspiration.

• Pupils can create a repeating rhythm to go with the lines of the song by clapping or beating on the table. Alternatively, pupils could choose a lullaby or a tune from a children’s song to use for their own lyrics, such as Row, Row, Row Your Boat. You could also bring out percussion instruments if you have them.

Extend by….

Running the first step of the activity again with the second video from the selection, asking students to compare and identify similarities and differences between the two performances Selecting other pieces of music from different eras or genres to listen to and review in class. Different groups could explore different styles. Pupils could bring in music that represents their own culture or community to share.

Following this lesson with further music activities using the bespoke recourses produced for the Croydon Music Heritage trail, which explores a range of musical genres: CroydonCulture.com/Education

Speed up by….

Running the creative section as a class,, by moving around individuals and asking each student to writing one line only for the song. Write up the song on the board as it grows.

TOP TIP: If you have a subscription to online music-making tools, you can use this software in class for this activity or to extend the lesson into home learning.

SECONDARY LESSON TWO: ART

DESIGN A MURAL FOR YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY Introduction

Inspire your pupils with the new ‘Croydon Symphony’ mural in Queens Gardens and challenge them to create their own mural to express what Croydon means to them.

Key learning objectives:

To evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft, and design. To produce creative work, exploring their ideas and recording their experiences.

1. WARM UP: CLASS DISCUSSION

Ask the group:

• What is a mural? (A piece of artwork painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling, or other structure, often outside and free to view).

• Why do we have them? (to celebrate, remember, decorate, etc.)

• Have you seen the new mural in Croydon? What did you think? How did it make you feel? Did you feel it represented your views of Croydon and the music made here?

2. BE INSPIRED: CLASS STIMULUS

• Take a closer look at the Croydon Symphony Mural together. If you can, visit the mural as a class, following your own school guidance for trips. Seeing it in person really brings it to life!

• If you can’t visit the mural, use the supporting PowerPoint to display it on your whiteboard as large as possible.

• You can share further information about the artist behind the mural with the class. ATMA is a street artist, mural painter and designer who uses bold colours, sharp lines, and natural patterns to tell stories through his work. He particularly positions his work in unusual or urban spaces, such as by motorways or in housing estates. You can find out more about him on his website: atma-art.com In the presentation you’ll also find a video and slides from the launch of the mural, which includes sources of inspiration for the commission.

• Now pupils can consider what they might include in their own mural about Croydon Life. Hand out copies of the worksheet in this pack or use the questions as prompts for a class discussion.

Nadia Rose in front of Croydon Symphony. Photo credit: Rachel Adams for Croydon Council

SECONDARY LESSON TWO: ART 6

3. RESPOND: REFLECT, DESIGN, CREATE

• Reflect: Discuss your responses pupils have given in the worksheet as a class – what range of people, places, events, and colours did the group come up with for their mural?

• Design: Challenge pupils to use the ideas from their worksheet to design a mural on paper. How will they layout their ideas to create one mural of all the different things that are important to them? At the design stage, they can move things around and try different ideas.

• Create: Share large pieces of paper and craft supplies to enlarge the design elements into final works of art. This could be using paints, collage, or other methods. Display on the wall, just like real murals.

Extend by….

Identifying a wall, fence, or temporary flat structure, to make a real mural to mark this special year. It could be painted by pupils, parents and carers, teachers, or a local painter. You could run a school competition to select a design.

Introducing other street artists to the class for further discussion or research: Banksy or Kobra are both great examples of exciting artists. More information about Kobra is available in the supporting PowerPoint.

Challenging pupils to undertake research to identify who is in the This is Croydon mural and present what they find out, or produce a profile or portrait as a home learning activity.

Speed up by….

Assigning different tables individual elements of the mural – one could produce portraits, another places, another items, or events. Cut out and overlap all the different parts on the wall to create one large mural together. Display in a shared space for others to view.

Artists working on the Croydon Symphony Mural.

YOUR CROYDON LIFE MURAL WORKSHEET

1. What is a mural and why are they made?

2. What artistic techniques and skills were used to create the mural?

3. What three important people would you include in your own mural about your life in Croydon, and why?

4. What Three important events, places or items would you include in your own mural about your life in Croydon, and why?

5. What five colours or shapes would you use in your mural, and why?

WRITE A POEM ABOUT WHAT CROYDON MEANS TO YOU

Introduction

Croydon’s Poet Laureate, Shaniqua Benjamin, produced a new poem to mark Croydon’s time as the London Borough of Culture, called ‘For Us and We’. This lesson uses the poem as a stimulus to explore free verse poetry or “spoken word” poetry with pupils, and challenges them to have a go themselves.

Key Learning objective:

To recognise a range of poetic conventions and understand how these have can be used

To learn to write for a wide range of purposes and audiences, including stories, scripts, poetry, and other imaginative writing.

1. WARM UP: CLASS DISCUSSION AND VIDEO

Ask the group: “how do you know when you hear a poem?” (sound patterns, rhythm, length, emotion, rhyme etc). Your class may think that rhyming is the most important element, but that’s not always true. “Free Verse” poetry, used in “For us and We”, does not use rhyme. This is also often the case with “spoken word” performances. A great introductory video to “spoken word” poetry and “poetry slam” events is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/z7f3g7h/articles/zm8gr2p#zrf6trd2

2. BE INSPIRED: CLASS STIMULUS

Hand out copies of ‘Us and We’ provided in this pack. You can also view ‘Us and We’ being performed here by poet Shaniqua Benjamin with images and film produced by ‘Bear Jam’:

(2) Oratorio of Hope (This is Croydon, London Borough of Culture) – YouTube

3. RESPOND: REFLECT, DEVISE, PERFORM

• Reflect: Discuss how the poem, and/or Shaniqua Benjamin’s performance, made the class feel:

o What do you think the poem is about?

o Do you recognise anything in the poem? people, places?

o Is it free verse, or does it rhyme? (seeing the poem written down may help)

o How does it make you feel about Croydon?

• Devise: Break the class into groups. Together they must make a list of all the things that are important to them about Croydon, it could be places, people, their school, their family, events. Now together or individually pupils must use these ideas to write a poem. You could challenge them to write it in ‘free verse’ or let them choose whether it rhymes or not. The important thing is that it should make the listener learn or feel something about Croydon.

• Perform: Ask pupils to perform their poem, considering their facial expressions, hand movements, and how they use their voice to convey the message. You could even run a ‘poetry slam’ event, where pupils perform their poem as part of a competition.

For Us and We

By Shaniqua Benjamin

I want to see it glisten like gravy, spilling from the underpass into every direction so you taste it. All of us savouring botanicals and sweetness in salt that flavours our ends sticky and shining in formation of footsteps from schools and libraries onto buses.

Take granules from bedrooms that are dancefloors on the next DJ’s path sitting them at tables to eat with the next theatre sensation or grime headliner rewriting the narrative in their signature, none of us are the same nor should we be expected to weld into the fit of what was past.

Step into my kind of beautiful that will only deepen with herbs planted from North to South and all centralised between, as we become so lustrous that everyone wants a piece of the stained glass fractured along high streets. Reds, purples and blues shaped with green, sitting in frames that will hold strong to restore peace, as unexpected relationships rise up to celebrate all we are –contrasting shades who share an extended picture created by fingertips grazed or soaked in all we’ve lived through, but pointing to new sunrises where sherbet will diffuse into everything we do for survival.

Watch this assortment of faces and places find their shine in fusion of new beats we’ll bop to even when apart, so unique it will be sensed beyond cities and rivers who barely know us, but they’ll get to.

As we twirl out of the spotlight playing strings with poetics that greet pastor and aunty in festival crowds over coffee and dinner, served up by boss man who has seen it all in the eyes of uniforms and whispers of the quiet one in the corner, overshadowed by the brash unafraid to speak up with voices who should always be heard –differently abled and Romani, elder, unhoused and refugee –neighbours on one map that brings together oceans, fields and desert plains, alongside ballys and bonnets, the busker and imam, we glimpse a corner of the world almost every day.

This is Croydon, the one I see, we need, for you and me, for us and we.

SECONDARY LESSON FOUR: DESIGN

DESIGN A LOGO FOR YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

Introduction

This is Croydon has a distinctive logo and branding. The logo and brand is a collection of words, colours and shapes used on everything made for the This is Croydon celebrations. Using this unique look makes sure everyone knows when an event, website, or activity is part of This is Croydon.

Learning objectives:

To evaluate and analyse creative works using the language of art, craft, and design.

1. WARM UP: WHAT’S IN A BRAND?

• Pick out some ‘brand’ logos many in your class will have seen before. Some can be really easy to identify, others harder.

• Share the logos on screen and see if they can identify the brand. To make this harder, you can cover any words from the logo.

• Ask “Why are some brands so recognisable?” (consider colour, simplicity, shape, typefaces etc.).

• Include your own school logo if you have one, and discuss it together. A selection of Croydonbased logos are included in the accompanying PowerPoint for this lesson.

2. BE INSPIRED: THIS IS CROYDON LOGO AND BRAND

• Share out the worksheet on the next page. It asks some questions about the This is Croydon logo and brand.

3. RESPOND: THINK, DESIGN, SHARE

Think: Ask the class to take out some paper and pens. You are going to ask four questions and they need to write down their first thoughts on their paper:

• What are the three words your friends would use to describe you?

• What one word sums up your personality most of the time?

• If you were a colour (or colours) what would you be?

• If you were a shape or a thing, what would you be? (it doesn’t need to be uniform shape, it could be a squiggle, animal, emoji, or item)

Design: The answers pupils have given can now be used to inspire the design of their own personal logo. One striking image or set of words that represents them. They could include their name, nickname, or initials in the logo to identify it.

Share: Once designed, ask pupils in pairs to swap logos and discuss them. Can they identify what inspired the other person’s logo – the words, personality, colours, and shape?

SECONDARY LESSON FOUR: DESIGN

Extend by….

Beginning the class by introducing the role of a ‘graphic designer’. These are people whose job it is to design logos and brands alongside other graphic design work

Explain they will be a graphic designer for the lesson, and the answers they give in the third part of the activity are what’s called a ‘design brief’. This is given to a designer to help them make a successful logo that represents the brand.

Rather than drawing their own logo, ask pupils to swap ‘briefs’ so that they design for someone else in the class.

Speed up by….

Simplifying the creative task, so that instead of designing a personal logo, the class designs a new school logo. You could provide pupils with your school values and colours as inspiration.

The This is Croydon logo in use on the website.

This is Croydon Logo Worksheet

The four different logo colours

The logo with brand shapes

The logo in use: station poster, phone app, website banner

What shapes and colours can you see? Why do you think they were chosen?

Why do you think the typeface was chosen for the lettering?

Would you change anything about the logo, if so, what?

How does the logo make you feel about Croydon?

SECONDARY LESSON FIVE: HISTORY

RECORD AN ORAL HISTORY FOR THE FUTURE Introduction

The Croydon Music Heritage Trail is a central part of the This is Croydon celebrations. Over 11,000 local people nominated and voted for the places, people and events included in the trails. The three trails can be accessed via a free app on phone or tablet devices to explore the sights, sounds and scenes of Croydon’s rich musical heritage. This lesson uses oral history recordings to inspire your pupils to record their own experiences for future historians. You can find a full teacher’s pack on the This is Croydon education site that supports using lots more of the Music Heritage Trail assets.

Key Learning objectives:

To understand historical concepts such as continuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference, and significance, and use them to make connections, draw contrasts, analyse trends, and create their own structured accounts.

To understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims.

1. WARM UP: CLASS DISCUSSION

• Ask the group: “if you wanted to learn about music in the past, what would you look for to find information?” (books, photos, drawings, films, newspapers etc).

• If no one mentions oral histories, introduce the concept: collecting oral histories is a method of gathering the voices and memories of people and communities about past and present events for historians.

2. BE INSPIRED: CLASS STIMULUS

• Ahead of your lesson, download the free “Croydon Music Heritage Trail” wherever you access your apps. It is available across iOS and Android devices.

• Connect your device to a whiteboard or screen and prepare your oral history stimulus. We’ve selected three options on the following page. Check the suitability of the contents for your class by listening ahead or reading the transcription below the audio in the app.

3. RESPOND

• Ask what people heard What is it like hearing real people talk about the past? What can we learn? How is this evidence different from reading an account or looking at images?

• Break the group into pairs to take it in turns to interview one another. Ideally prepare digital tools to record the interviews, but you could write answers too.

• Students can create their own interview scripts, or use the script on the next page as the basis. This includes space for a final question to be added by pupils.

SECONDARY LESSON FIVE: HISTORY

THREE OPTIONAL ORAL HISTORY LINKS:

Inspiration 1:

Click on the ‘Central Trail’ > location 14 > ‘Croydon Stories: Rock Bottom’s Carl Nielson’ (4.45mins). Hear from Carl who opened a musical instrument shop called ‘Rock Bottom’ in Croydon in the 1970s, inspired by his love of guitars. You can shorten this audio by stopping at 2.55mins, after the line ‘this is my first shop’.

Inspiration 2:

Click on the ‘Northern Trail’ > location 18 > ‘Croydon Stories: Mad Professor’s Take’ (3.16min). Local musician, Mad Professor, talks about how his interest in music started in the 60s, and he even built his own radio aged 9 or 10. Mad Professor went on to produce music for others, and still has new music out now.

Inspiration 3:

Click on the ‘Explore Further’ trail > location 24 > ‘Croydon Stories: Helen Watkins’. Hear Helen’s experience of the Croydon music festival in the 80s – although it started back in the 20s! Helen helped bring more diversity to the festival, including Indian Classical Music and Steel Bands. To shorten, end at 3.05 after ‘colourful event’.

Extend by….

Why not collect up your interviews and save them in a time capsule for future pupils to listen to? You could add other historical evidence, such as photos, drawings, or written stories about your pupil’s life in Croydon too.

Consider a class trip to the Museum of Croydon to hear more about the creation of the trail and listen to some of the other oral histories in the museum collection for inspiration.

Speed up by….

Using class time to learn about oral history and listening to the examples, then creating a home learning opportunity by asking pupils to interview family or friends out of school to collect evidence of life in Croydon in 2023.

Link to your history theme

You could use this lesson as inspiration for collecting evidence about your own class history theme.

MUSIC IN 2023: ORAL HISTORY WORKSHEET

Date of interview:

Interviewer name:_______________________________________________

Interviewee name:_______________________________________________

Question 1: In which year were you born?

Question 2: What different types of music are listened to in 2023?

Question 3: What type or types of music do you listen to with your family or wider community? Why?

Question 4: What is your favourite type or types of music and why?

Question 5: What instruments are used in your favourite music?

Question 6: (Interviewer - add your own final question here):

WHAT NEXT?

CELEBRATE YOUR PUPIL’S WORK

Sharing your responses to This is Croydon, in whatever forms they take, is an important part of self-expression. It can be nerve-wracking for pupils to share what they have produced with others, but also confidence building, and good practise ahead of adult life.

Depending on what pupils have produced, you may want to pick a particular way to showcase their work. Some ideas are below:

SET UP A GALLERY

Frame your class or school artwork and display in a shared space. Seeing artwork in a more formal setting can change how you view it. Pupils can make labels to go with their artwork; with the title, artist, and year on each one. You could invite classes to visit each other’s “galleries”, or host a school gallery and invite parents and carers in for a “private viewing”. Artwork can then go home with each child at the end. Frames can be expensive, but dark paper strips can be used to frame artwork, or you may be able to use funding from PTA or other sources to buy reasonably in bulk. There is also a frame template at the end of this pack.

HOST A SCHOOL CONCERT OR MUSICAL SHOWCASE

You may be used to holding events for children who have chosen to perform, such as school choirs, but have you considered inviting other pupils to participate in a music performance? There could be budding singers, musicians or even bands who would like to try out performing.

Pupils should be encouraged to nominate themselves for solo or band performances, with each class also being assigned a class-wide song to perform to ensure everyone takes part. You could use ‘This is Croydon’ as the theme and ask pupils to select songs that they feel represent the cultures, locations, or people in Croydon.

HOLD PUPIL-LED ASSEMBLIES

Ask each year group to produce an assembly to share their work with the next year down. Your youngest year can perform to the oldest year. Involve the pupils in every element of planning, so they can take responsibility for the event and feel the satisfaction of completing it successfully.

The assembly should showcase the work they have produced – for example, talking about the artwork they have made, presenting the logos they have designed, performing their poems, or singing the songs they have created. To ensure wide participation, create one element of the assembly where the whole class performs together as a ‘finale’.

PRODUCE SHORT VIDEOS TO SHARE LEARNING

If it’s tricky to share or perform live, you could work with students to produce short digital videos, taking inspiration from Shaniqua’s poetry video in this pack, or other videos they may have seen online. These could be performances, presentations of their work or even tutorials about what they have learnt to help others have a go. The videos can then be screened in other classes to share learning across the school.

WHAT NEXT?

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE

Thank you for using this school resource as part of This is Croydon, a year-long programme celebrating Croydon’s moment as London Borough of Culture 2023-24.

We want to hear your feedback. You can access a ten-question online feedback form which will take around five minutes to complete using this QR Code or link:

Why are we asking for your feedback?

By completing the school questionnaire, you will be supporting us to tell the story of our year as London Borough of Culture. Information you share with us will help us understand how cultural opportunities in Croydon are impacting people living in the borough. Your honest feedback is invaluable to us.

How we will use this information:

In line with Croydon Council’s Culture and Library Services Privacy Notice, data from this survey will be shared with the following partners to analyse and evaluate the impact of our programmes: contracted evaluation partners, external programme funders, programme delivery partners

Sharing your work with us

We would love to see what you and your pupils have produced for the This is Croydon celebrations. As well as informing our evaluation, we will also select some examples of school projects to share in the This is Croydon School’s Newsletter and other official channels, where we showcase school work as inspiration for others taking part.

You can either:

Share on your social channels using the hashtag #ThisIsCroydonSchools

Or email us, adding ‘Schools’ to the email header: culture@croydon.gov.uk