What is the See me See You Early Years Programme?


The Early Years Programme has been developed to encourage both oracy skills and community awareness for 3–7 year olds. This project works with children from an interface area in Derry/Londonderry, over three stages of their development from Nursery/playgroup, primary one and primary two.  The project will ignite a love of learning through creative activities culminating in a series of Digital Stories.  The project will develop oracy, literacy, and sequencing skills; as well as encourage and promote self confidence, language development and creativity using digital cameras, computers, visual arts, sound recording, drama and storytelling.


Community Relations

 The project will impact on the development of teachers, teacher’s assistants, care workers and nursery workers who will enhance their own skills and creativity, working alongside a professional facilitator to develop and deliver the activities.  This project will culminate in 12 Digital Stories made by the children, which can be viewed on the Verbal Arts Centres Web Site(link to  homepage).


Showcase
 These stories will cover topics which explore a community relations theme developed through the understanding of ‘The World Around Me’ including, A Day in My Life, My Journey to School, Games We Play, People Who Are Important To Us, My Family and Friends, and Our Community. This work will be showcased to all involved and their families at the project launch on Friday 3rd March 2006.


What have they done?

The introduction to the programme included games, role plays, questions and discussion around the topics of themselves and their community.  Betty Boyle for Foyle Day Care says ‘The children really are enjoying it and they are learning a lot at the same time’.

All the children took part in a ‘choice game’ with coloured stickers which acted as a baseline exercise, this helps to identify the current knowledge of 3 – 7 year olds in relation to their community.  Working alongside teachers, teaching assistants and childcare workers, the children have now identified people and places important to them and people and places important to the community as a whole.  Facilitator Katie Fitzpatrick commented ‘A programme like this is dependant on the support and enthusiasm of the staff and children and it is a pleasure working with Longtower School and Foyle Day Care’.
The groups have taken photographs using digital cameras and are creating opportunities to talk to individuals who help them during their everyday lives. 


What Next?

The children will create individual stories based on their own experiences and gather the common elements to make a story that represents their class or group.  This process allows them to explore and express individual identity and to see how these experiences fit into a community environment represented by their class or group.  Each class or group will ultimately create three digital stories covering the people and places important to that group.   According to Joyce Logue Literacy co-ordinator for Longtower Primary School ‘The opportunity to be a partner in a creative programme like this, which addresses significant elements of the Key stage1 and Key stage 2 curriculum has been very exciting, the teachers and children are thoroughly enjoying all the elements of the programme and we are all looking forward to seeing the final digital stories from our group and the other participants, it will be a fantastic educational resource for the future’.