The Phoenix Project

The North Road Burial Ground in Southend was a disgrace.  Formerly a pristine Victorian graveyard, over the last sixty years it has been allowed to go to rack and ruin.  What’s left of the remarkable chapel has been set on fire, graves have been vandalised and it’s where to buy drugs. But 6 months ago a history lesson set off a revolt. Year 5 of the Westborough School were so offended by the state of their local graveyard that they wanted change.  First, they put an advert in the local paper and received over 50 responses from relatives of those buried there. Then they decided that their Creative Partnerships project should be based around making the NRBG a nicer place. This documentary follows the work of the children of Year 5 at the Westborough School in Westcliff-on-Sea in creating gardens, stained glass windows, memory tiles and plaques that are going to be used in the restoration of this once beautiful place.

Read the article in the Southend Standard (opens new window)

Blade Education has put together a taster film of the Phoenix Project for all of those without 40 minutes to watch the DVD:

This is a section of the main film. The clip shows a visit to the Burial Ground by Year 5.

ESIS Online

ESIS Online is a service that offers schools and parents the facility to give their children a realistic view of what it is like to go to school in the UK. Working closely with over 400 educators, parents, children and community members, Blade Education has built this resource so that it levels the playing field for incoming children - whatever their background - in terms of the social information they need to know before they begin school. The service is based around 21 subjects that cover everything that a child is likely to come across in a typical day at school and it gives them and their parents a practical knowledge of the expectations that their school will have of them and what to expect in return.

This clip is the first film, the Introduction, in English - one of the 20 language available within ESIS Online.

ESIS Launch on BBC Look East

Blade Education held a launch event to celebrate the publication of its first product, the ESIS DVD set. The event was well attended, among those who came were Southend's Lady Mayor and one of Southend's MPs, David Amess who later reported the event in a House of Commons debate. Held at the Westborough School, where the content was filmed the day was a great success and staff, children, parents and community members all congregated to celebrate the launch, the school and most of all the children who took part in the filming.

This clip shows the news report from BBC Look East that ran in their evening programme.

ESIS Promotional Film

To mark the release of the ESIS DVD set, Blade Education put together a promotional film to be played at the launch event. The promo film made use of some footage from the ESIS films, specially shot material for the promo, title sequences, voice overs, images and music. Made in a short space of time, the film was well received by those at the launch. The film is 8 mins 10secs.

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