Grasmere School - The First 400 Years

THE PROJECT
Produced in 2025 with the children of Grasmere School, this film was produced to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Grasmere School. The film was used as the centrepiece of the school's celebrations and was screened at a gala evening at the Grasmere Village Hall in December 2025.

The film documents the history of Grasmere School, drawing largely on entries from the Headteachers' Log Books which are still in existence from the 1850's. Log books were mandatory and they form a fascinating insight into the day to day running of the school, giving us clues about the curriculum, discipline, technology, social developments, health and religion. In one entry, there is reference to a magic lantern show which was shown to the children in the late 1800's. This formed the basis of the story for the film - the magic lantern still being in the school's possession all these years later.

The film not only explores the school's history, the children also discuss what school is like today. As such, it's a love letter to future pupils and teachers of the school.

PRODUCTION
The film was produced over twelve months. We used a range of filming techniques and locations: I took the log books and scripted the Victorian voices into one minute monologues which the children performed at the Judges' Lodgings Museum. We used a teleprompter which took a significant amount of rehearsal time - there is a knack to reading from a teleprompter. The children did really well. There is a beautiful intensity and truth in all of their performances. However, let's not just focus on the main characters! There is collectively a brilliant supporting cast of extras - all sitting quietly and appearing to get on with their work! No-one looked at the camera and everyone maintained a really impressive level of concentration and commitment throughout filming. Doing nothing is difficult. They nailed it!

The children also worked to produce their own questions about the school, addressing the curriculum, discipline, fun!, trips and food. They became their own little production teams for the Genie TV scenes and we produced some fine presenters. Throw in a genie, copious amounts of green screening, some beautifully acted sequences and teleporter effects and this film stands as a moment of reflection of the school in the year 2025.

Thank you so much to all of the children who invested their energy, commitment and trust into this project. It's only at the end of something like this that you can see the value in trusting the creative process. I may be biased, but I think it is a work of beauty!