Leading Cynefin - Discovering Community Treasure

Leading Cynefin is an innovative collaboration project between ProMo Cymru, Primary Schools, Ebbw Vale Institute (EVI) and TLP Wales, supported by the National Academy for Educational Leadership.

This project equips teachers and young people with digital, creative, and storytelling skills, creating confidence to explore, connect to, and celebrate their community treasures and history.

Serving as a pilot project, we’ve developed a blueprint for Curriculum for Wales and Community Focused Schools in action with Janet Hayward OBE (Executive Headteacher of Cadoxton and Oak Field Primary Schools in Barry) and TLP Wales, combining our extensive expertise in education, digital, and youth work.

Our goal is to provide young people with the tools they need to develop an understanding of their Cynefin (habitat); the people, places and histories that shape their communities, inspiring them with passion and pride for themselves and the world around them.

Digital Storytelling

ProMo Cymru media trainers delivered two digital storytelling workshops, bringing year 5 teachers and pupils from Cadoxton, Oak Field, and Willowtown Primary Schools together to learn at the historic Ebbw Vale Institute (EVI) community and cultural centre and Victoria Park Community Centre. The workshops covered both theory and practice of:

– Camera angles and shots
– Lighting and composition
– Audio and voice overs
– Digitising old images
– Preproduction and storyboarding
– Sharing and exporting media files
– Filming and editing footage

The groups explored and experimented with different media equipment, practised conducting and filming interviews with microphones, and putting theory into practice. This rich learning experience outside of the classroom inspired them to engage with their community surroundings and with ideas for their projects.

Cynefin Pupil’s Inquiries

Equipped with these tools, children set out to discover and document their own community treasure as part of their Cynefin Inquiries.

Pupils invited community members to come together and share what Cynefin meant to them. They documented the stories and treasures from Barry and Ebbw Vale, producing their own artwork and written pieces alongside using digital storytelling to showcase what they had found.

Exhibition Showcase Event

A project celebration and exhibition were held at The Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay on 24th November, supported by Lee Waters MS, Jane Hutt MS, & Alun Davies MS. Pupils invited their families and members of the public passing by in to explore their exhibition, proudly showcasing their outstanding pieces and sharing their community history!