Springside annual autumn film festival and scarecrow trail

Date published: 25 October 2021

The annual autumn film festival at Springside with Hamer Learning Community School was held on Monday 18 October, and also incorporated an inclusive scarecrow trail.

Each class created a film based on the topic ‘This is me/our world’ before welcoming parents and carers to an exclusive screening in the school hall. Pupils and their families sat alongside each other to watch the films, snuggled up together with cosy fleece blankets.

This year, the school extended the event with the support of the local community. With the whole day centred around an autumnal theme, businesses, charities and local residents kindly donated scarecrows made for the Wardle and Littleborough Scarecrow Festivals. Thanks to the donations of the amazing creations, a scarecrow trail was formed in the safety of the school grounds for its learners.

As many of Springside’s pupils have medical needs, special needs, significant learning disabilities and/or disabilities, they can often struggle to access community events. Due to this, staff decided to bring an accessible form of the scarecrow festival to the students so they didn’t miss out on the popular community event.

Springside’s Carole Kelly said: “Due to the needs of our learners, it’s most likely that they were unable take part in the community festival. For example, many of our learners do not have hazard perception; they are not aware of road safety, and they can easily reach crisis. So this year we decided to bring the scarecrow trail to them.

“Thanks to those who generously donated scarecrows, our families were able to enjoy the activity and to take lots of photographs with the amazing creations. “Learners showed great curiosity in the scarecrows and the activity provided a chance for our families to meet, talk and appreciate an inclusive community activity.

“We braved the rain and thoroughly enjoyed the event, with the added treat of black peas, parkin and hot chocolate from The Village Bakery, Littleborough, which was served during the festival.

“Thank you so very much to everyone involved in making this event a success.”