BAFTA Kids’ biggest ever event returned to Alexandra Palace for its second outing this summer, enthusing the young crowd about such culturally enriching topics as the history of children’s television, the centenary of female suffrage and the creation of their favourite children’s shows. There was also the addition of a little bit of Paddington-inspired calypso music and dance for good measure...
For the second year running, BAFTA Kids and Alexandra Palace joined forces to entertain and enlighten 1,000 children at the Big Schools Day event on 26 June. The full day of fun-packed activities was hosted by Lindsey Russell (Blue Peter), Ed Petrie (All Over the Place) and Naomi Wilkinson (Naomi’s Nightmares of Nature) and featured a selection of industry professionals and BAFTA-winning talent sharing their knowledge and artistry. The huge crowd of Years 5, 6 and 7 school children enjoyed a magical day of fun and learning, including special masterclasses, music, stunts, live discussions and competitions to explore the various creative roles within children’s media.
Here are a few select images from the day...
Alexandra Palace/Simon Leigh
The Big Schools Day was hosted by three familiar faces from children’s television, Ed Petrie, Naomi Wilkinson and Lindsey Russell (pictured left to right). They spent the morning talking to the assembled crowd about the history of Alexandra Palace and its role in broadcasting the first public television transmissions (from 1936 to 1956), as well as BAFTA’s own legacy and support for children’s television. There was also a special celebration of Blue Peter in honour of the show’s 60th anniversary, led by Russell.
To tie in with BAFTA’s Female Firsts exhibition and the centenary of women’s suffrage this year, the three also discussed the important contributions made by women to the industry and then Wilkinson offered her thoughts on natural history programming. The early morning session also included a quick-fire round on Television Presenting, a regular spot in the BAFTA Kids Roadshows that always goes down well with the children.
Alexandra Palace/Simon Leigh
Alexandra Palace/Simon Leigh
Super silky skills were on show as the team from CBBC’s fantastic football drama Jamie Johnson set the young crowd a football skills challenge to tie in with the FIFA World Cup 2018. The show’s executive producer, Sam Talbot, as well as cast members Jermaine Johnson (who plays Wozza) and Patrick Ward (Dillon) were on hand to chat about the show, offer some inspirational advice and judge the competition.
The winner of the challenge was Aleksander from Alexandra Primary – pictured in the middle and flanked by, from left to right, Lindsey Russell, Johnson, Ward, Ed Petrie and Naomi Wilkinson.
Alexandra Palace/Simon Leigh
BAFTA/Lisa Prime
The scale of the Big Schools Day event is evident, as the gathered 1,000 children take part in a music quiz, where they had to identify well-known theme tunes, as played on Alexandra Palace’s magnificent Henry Willis Organ by organist Paul Simpson. Naomi Wilkinson also led an activity session on music, which illustrated how music can be used to create mood, theme and characterisation.
Other activities during the day included designing a new poster for a Paddington film, after listening to insightful talks from the film’s producer Alexandra Ferguson-Derbyshire, who discussed the making of the films, and production designer, Gary Williamson, who explained what the role of a production designer is on a film or series.
Just before the close of the event, Ferguson-Derbyshire and Williamson (pictured alongside Ed Petrie and Lindsey Russell) had time for a little fun on stage before judging two competitions: one for comedy writing, supported by the Beano, and the other for the Paddington poster design.
Alexandra Palace/Lloyd Winters
Alexandra Palace/Lloyd Winters
Alexandra Palace/Simon Leigh
Music is always a wonderful way to engage with children and so to demonstrate the importance of music in children’s media, the band featured in Paddington, Tobago d’Lime, entertained the crowd with a few toe-tapping hits.
There was a real carnival atmosphere in the hall as host Naomi Wilkinson led the children in a dance routine to ‘Shake Shake Shake Senora’. She was joined on stage by students from Hornsey School for Girls, but the whole crowd couldn’t help but shake it up.
Alexandra Palace/Lloyd Winters
The whole event was a resounding success, not only entertaining the young crowd but also giving them a greater appreciation of what goes into making the great films, games and television shows they love so much. This specially curated event, just one of many we host throughout the year under the banner of BAFTA Kids, provides an entertaining introduction to the world of the moving image. It certainly received the thumbs up from these happy students at the end of the Big Schools Day.
Images by Alexandra Palace/Simon Leigh, Alexandra Palace/Lloyd Winters and BAFTA/Lisa Prime
