Workshop 4 - Accrington, England

We arrived at Manchester airport in the afternoon where the Åland Islands, Catalonian and Turkish groups met before being picked up. Poland and Lithuania arrived later. We were greeted at the school by our hosts and their families who made us very welcome.

Wednesday started with a meeting at reception where we all received our security passes for Accrington Academy,a very modern,new built school in the Lancashire town of Accrington.We then saw the pupils greeting concert,it was great they were all very musical. We introduced ourselves then it was time for work.

Our first workshop was hosted by Nathan Ashman who introduced us to filming angles with the help of some apps on the ipads. We learnt how to create different feelings by using various angles and filming distances. The day was rounded off by a sports hour. Accrington school has lots of after school activities and clubs for pupils in the local area. We had the chance to swim, play badminton or climb.....Indoors!

On thursday our workshops focussed on animating a figure within a background our teachers from "Robot street" animators showed us how a figure should move, how many shots to take, how to animate flames etc. We learned a lot.

Friday started with an art workshop hosted by Juliette who was an expert in print making techniques. We made various art pieces using different print making techniques.

We took a packed lunch and headed out to Clitheroe Castle with the bus for a bit of Lancashire history. Here pupils made "armour for eggs"to be thrown from the Keep and learned about the battle of hastings in 1066.

Friday night was culture evening filled with games,song and food produced by the parents- thankyou!

Saturday was sight seeing day starting with a tour around Old Trafford,

home to one of the Manchester teams, this was followed by a look around the Lowry art museum, modern art in a background of local artist LS Lowry works. A walk over the bridge to the War museum finished off the day before we headed back to school.

Some of us had an early start on the sunday at 3 am. Thanks to all the staff,hosts and especially parents and families for making everyones stay so welcoming, next stop....Poland.