MEETING: The Rotary Club of St Woolos Newport were delighted to welcome pupils and staff members from St Woolos Primary School, Newport, to their meeting to hear how the children had undertaken the daunting task of running a pop up restaurant. Rotary club members were extremely impressed by a presentation by the pupils which included a very professional video to advertise the event.

Heather Vaughan, headteacher and Vicky Spray, foundation phase leader, set the scene by explaining that year one and two children at the school had been exploring what inspired them to write through a number of activities leading to the creation of a working pop up restaurant. The project, aimed mainly at enthusing boys about writing, involved getting the children to create advertising material, amongst which was an advert created in conjunction with the Cardiff based production company It’s My Shout, which was screened at a local cinema.

The Arts Council for Wales Lead Creative School project at St Woolos contributed to the overall theme of work for the spring term, F is for Fun; and of course F is also for Food. Working together, teachers and teaching assistants from the year one and two classes came together to plan an activity that would provide compelling reasons to write for the seventy five boys and girls who were to participate. 

It was decided that a Hungry Heroes pop up restaurant that would serve international dishes to parents, would provide a range of inclusive activities that could support both written and spoken literacy skills and would introduce them to the world of work. Parental involvement with these activities was also a key element. 

The young pupils visited local restaurants and a radio station and were tasked with coming up with advertising material to publicise the restaurant which would open to parents at the end of the term. The school engaged with creative practitioners It’s My Shout, and Capital Radio with expertise in music technology and media production to help pupils write and develop their own super-hero themed cinema advert, jingle and written material for a publicity campaign. This advert was screened at the Newport Cineworld Cinema to an invited audience of children and parents.

At the end of the spring term the learners opened the Hungry Heroes restaurant to parents and guests over two evenings, serving eighty diners each night with a three course meal including an array of international dishes. Pupils also provided entertainment for the night with an open mic style comedy show, with pupils reading out jokes they had written.

The invitation for pupils to speak at this recent meeting provided pupils with the opportunity to make a presentation in a formal situation and is part of the club’s on-going support of one of its local community schools.

Rotarian Geoff Slade congratulated the pupils and teachers for tackling such a challenging project and for putting on an outstanding event and thanked them for visiting the club to explain the hurdles they had overcome to achieve such a great occasion.

Who knows, we may have a Nadiya Hussain or Jamie Oliver in the making!

(Alan Thomas)