STOUR SURROUNDINGS
The Offshoot Foundation were contacted by Dedham Vale AONB to make two films promoting the area’s Art History along the Stour Valley. Interviewing modern day artists such as Maggi Hambling and Simon Carter we discover how Gainsborough, Constable, Cedric Morris and the Stour Valley have influenced them.
SUDBURY SILK STORIES
The Offshoot Foundation were delighted to work with Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council and the Silk Companies in Sudbury to produce a film telling stories about the industry in Sudbury from the people who work in the industry.
We invited 33 young people from Thomas Gainsborough Academy and Sudbury Ormiston Academy to participate in the interviewing, filmmaking and editing process. Check out the website and our films.
To view the film go to https://www.sudburysilkstories.com
GURKHA STORIES
Doubling up on an Offshoot Films production focusing on the lives and stories of Gurkha veterans, The Offshoot Foundation worked with the 308 ATC Squadron Air Cadets in Colchester, teaching them the film making skills to produce their own behind the scenes film.
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THE MAKING OF
The Offshoot Foundation partnered with Gurkha Stories and the 308 (Colchester) ATC cadets to make a behind the scenes look at retired Gurkhas in Colchester recounting their careers. The film project contributed towards the cadets’ Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award.
We held weekly workshops to support the cadets in developing their filming, interviewing and editing skills with professional equipment. The young film makers’ work paid off, allowing them to both successfully interview Gurkha veterans and produce their own films.
The making of the Gurkha Stories
"This project has enhanced my ability to speak to new people with confidence due to me interviewing some of the Gurkha. I have also learned how to research subjects into more detail than before I had started this project."
Harry, 308 (Colchester) ATC Young Film Maker
WHO ASKS US?
'Who Asks Us?' is a series of ongoing projects run across Suffolk, focusing on giving young people a voice and an inside look at further education and career paths.
Since 2012, the project has been run in various schools, academies, colleges and pupil referral units, giving hundreds of students a voice and a greater understanding of their futures. Through visits to countless local businesses, colleges and more, young people have been able to engage directly with those involved in a range of different career paths, learn from their experiences, and ask the question 'Who Asks Us?'
You can find out more on the project from its website whoasksus.org.
WhoAsksUs? - Westbridge PRU
Who Asks Us - The Priory School
Who Asks Us - Albany PRU - Lackford Lakes
OUTCOMES
The Offshoot Foundation has a proven track record of successfully working with Schools, businesses, young people and adults over a 3 year period on its 'Who Asks Us?' project - gaining a Suffolk County Council Raising the Bar Award for Innovation in Education and Skills in the process.
“Our students were extremely fortunate to work with Paul Press on the award-winning Who Asks Us project. He believes very strongly in giving young people opportunities to learn new skills, challenge themselves and raise their aspirations. He showed total commitment to supporting and encouraging our students and empowering them to have the self-belief to produce a documentary film they are immensely proud of.
The knowledge, skills and confidence they acquired as a result of working with Paul on the project have ensured that these students are more focused and more proactive about their futures and has given them a huge advantage over their peers.
— Wendy Toogood, Careers Officer, Stoke High School, Ormiston Academy
"This project helped me see that there are good opportunities to go into the workplace and it has relieved me of the stress of the rumoured scary job and scary interview."
— Thurston Community College Student
The WhoAsksUs Project was a fantastic experience for our pupils. It enthused and motivated them and made them actively think about where their learning in school might eventually lead them.
— Gorseland Primary School Teacher
— Jeff Orr, Deputy Governor HMP and YOI Hollesley Bay
"Who Ask Us assisted young participants to think, reflect and take stock of their direction as well as provide an opportunity to enquire and explore the working world around them, revealing other life options and choices within their community.
I felt that it was the abstract approach [researchers] that enable participants to self-evaluate through interviewing employers that provoked thought, without being personally judged or lectured. The impact upon participants listening to the reality of prison life, and to hear what employers seek from a young employee caused a distinctive response in all but a few participants. It was interesting to have an audience of students and staff, equally absorbed in the topic of prison life and I am sure a subject that provoked further classroom and break time debate.
I was impressed by both Jill and Paul as they clearly showed temperance, patience and resilience in engaging with a challenging target audience, they were clearly passionate about influencing positively young people who may otherwise embark on a pathway that may leading to prison.
Having worked in prisons for 27 years and having seen first-hand the sufferance and pain that imprisonment brings to individuals and families, the thought of positively influencing a young mind to rescue their own situation and find the motivation to make positive changes, or even sow the seeds to enable future changes is reward in itself.
The real stars were the participants and I wish them all good luck as they step out as young adults, WAU and PRU staff are good examples of ‘enabling’ self-reflection.
I feel privileged to have been able to assist."