National Schools Film Week

SCHOOL children in the Reporter area will get the chance to visit the cinema for free as part of an annual festival.

National Schools Film Week (October 15-26), which aims to support classroom teaching, is in its 17th year.

Almost 500,000 students and their teachers attended the festival in 2011 and this year there will be 2,500 screenings at 570 cinemas across the UK.

The festival looks to provide schools with an experience for their students that links directly to elements of the curriculum and is supported by an online library of resources related to individual films and more generic topics.

Director of National Schools Film Week, Nick Walker, said: “The Festival seeks to create a greater awareness and understanding of cinema based on the concept of relationships and dialogues in a variety of films, address issues of cultural exchange and raise awareness amongst teaching professionals of the use of film across the school curriculum.

“This is achieved by in-cinema talks and on-line resources, which give teachers the tools to encourage students to explore and understand new cinematic worlds.”

Independent cinema Saffron Screen, based at the County High School in Audley End Road, will host the film Coriolanus (15) for local schools on October 24. Teachers can book their tickets at nationalschoolsfilmweek.org