The Arts Society Corinium

Ashton Keynes Church of England Primary School

The Arts Society Corinium were delighted to be able to provide funding for a one-day workshop on stop-motion animation: think Wallace and Gromit or Chicken Run.

The workshop was with Year 6 students who, with SATs behind them, could relax a bit and enjoy a fun, learning experience … and there was a lot to learn! Did you know that in professional stop-motion animation 24 pictures are used per second and that Chicken Run took 6 years to make. These and other snippets of information were all reported to me by the students as I chatted with them.

An important aspect of the workshop is the need for collaboration within a team. Teams of three and four students each had their own film to make. Ideas / stories were needed; the teams had to prepare a storyboard; then plasticine models needed to be made; and, finally the individual pictures had to be captured using dedicated software to create the film. The energy in the room was wonderful and every single student was fully engaged.

The person leading the workshop was clearly very knowledgeable and very able. He was great at working with the students’ ideas but also gently lead them to better options particularly in terms of what was achievable in the time available. The students clearly took on board the mantra of the smaller the adjustments the better and in a very short period of time I was able to see impressive initial seconds of films being made.

I very much look forward to seeing the final results of this project. We have been promised links to the resultant short animations of the students – I can’t wait! An update will be issued in due course.

Sarah Storer

19 June 2026

Ashton Keynes Impact Statement

The workshop was exceptionally well organised and gave our students a fascinating insight into the world of animation. The day began with an engaging discussion about how animations are created, exploring the different components that come together to produce a finished piece. This then developed into an interesting conversation about the variety of careers within the animation industry, with many of the children expressing an interest throughout the day, in pursuing similar roles in the future.

Working in small groups, the children developed their own ideas by creating storyboards before bringing them to life using Play-Doh characters and props. During the afternoon, they used a stop-motion app on the iPads to produce their animations, carefully considering lighting, capturing each frame, adding sound effects and background music, and finishing their projects with credits before presenting them to the rest of the group.

It was a fantastic day that encouraged creativity, teamwork, and problem-solving, and the children gained so much from the experience. We are incredibly grateful for your support in making this opportunity possible.

Some feedback from parents and students:

“It was interesting to see how precise you need to be for an animation, I had never realised the minute details which go into them”

“It’s opened my eyes to animation, I definitely will continue this as a hobby.”

“I really loved the day, it was super creative.”

“I really liked making the stop motion and animation and how the little videos come together, even though it took a long time to make it, it was worth it and you got to see the little characters move, it was really good.”

“It was a really lovely day when Barry came in. He taught us a lot about stop motion animation, I found making the characters fun and particularly loved creating the sounds and effects to go with the movie.”

“I reckon it would be a fun job and career path.”

“The day was lots of fun with freedom to do what we wanted, just like animation would be!”

“I think it’s so important for schools to give children a variety of learning opportunities, and something from the arts like this is so often out of budget allowance. I am thrilled they got the chance to do it.”

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