Go to full news

Children from Swanton Abbott Community Primary School celebrate showcasing their interactive game on the BBC Big Screen in Norwich

Area Delivery Organisation: Norfolk and Norwich Festival

The game, called ‘Rainforest Bugout’, was created by a group of 19 seven to nine year old children with the help of local expert James Gibbon as part of a Creative Partnerships programme in their school.

Children have spent the past few months working on a class project about the rainforest designed to give children the confidence to take ownership of an element of their learning. Working closely with multi media technician James Gibbon, they have designed every element of the game from concept and challenges to characters, artwork, interface, fonts and music.

Headteacher Kay Timms said: ’Every single child in the class has contributed in some way to this exciting project and the results speak for themselves: not only are the children gaining the confidence to take responsibility for elements of their own learning, but they have shown they can work together to create something they can be really proud of.’

Jacob Sinkins from Swanton Abbott said: ‘We saw it on the screen and we were all speechless. My favourite bit of the project was when James [Gibbons] came and put the beetle and the character that I designed into the game.’

Florence Lysaght from Swanton Abbott said:‘Everyone in the class has different skills. Some people are better at music and some are better at drawing or writing or colouring in, so we worked together to make everything in the game.’

Creative Partnerships, managed in Norfolk by the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, is the Government’s flagship creative learning programme, designed to use creativity to develop the skills of young people across England, raising their aspirations and achievements, and opening up more opportunities for their futures.