‘We’re all in this together’ – Mayfield School’s video message to pupils
TEACHERS at a city school have used the power of social media to produce a singalong ‘feel good’ video message for pupils who may be struggling with the confinement of lockdown.
Staff from Mayfield School in North End can be seen dancing in wigs and rainbow tutu skirts as they singalong to the High School Musical song, We're All In This Together.
Assistant headteacher, Jude Firth, helped co-ordinate the initiative with PE teacher Lucy Bradshaw. Teachers and staff submitted photographs and video clips of themselves and family which were used to compile the message.
Jude said: ‘We wanted to reach out to our school community. We used the song during last year’s school show and it’s an important message that we are still together during this isolation.’
Teachers can be seen holding up rainbows and support messages which stated ‘miss you students’ and reminding pupils to ‘stay safe’. With examinations cancelled, one message simply read ‘good luck Year 11’.
The humorous video even had teachers delivering pretend lessons to teddy bears sat in the places of what would normally be children.
Jude added: ‘Seventy-five members of staff contributed to the video and one of the reasons we did it was to enable the children to see their teachers and not feel too detached.
‘Making the video and using the school’s Facebook site was one of the ways we could maintain contact with the children.’
The video has been a hit with the local community with more than 15,000 views. Students have even started creating their own videos to submit to the school’s website.
One poster commented: ‘Well done everyone - great performance, especially the guy with the green head band.’
Another added: ‘This is lovely. Made me well up. Harrison loved your dancing Mrs Moore.’
Headteacher David Jeapes used the video to show students an update on the construction of the new school building before signing off with a message of hope which stated ‘see you soon’.
Mr Jeapes said: ‘We’ve been overwhelmed with the response from our local community and we are grateful to our members of staff for coming together and participating. The comments from the pupils, parents and families has been really positive.’