Top 5 @BradfieldSC posts to date in 2023

The 5 most satisfying posts to craft in 2023

CONTEXT

Bradfield Senior College is a school unlike any other. The students it brings together, and what it enables them to do, seem lightyears away from many people's experience of high school. I had been Bradfield's Screen and Media teacher for the last 4 years, amidst commitments to other institutions.

This year I've been handling the school's social media, which has put me in the position of finding things to talk about, and ways to visualise those things, almost daily. The strategy has been evolving since January, and has reached across: Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, this esteemed platform, Twitter, and even our website. Material is photographed, filmed and otherwise recorded daily, and the Instagram is the most frequent record of this.

Instagram has been the focus. I count 189 posts for this year up to today. It hasn't just been me. There are many strands to it: Making Learning Visible pieces, trailers for school events, graduate stories, raffles and fundraisers, interviews with staff and students, student performances, and even playful pieces that go under the name 'Friday Fun'. More could be said about the philosophy of what has been done, or the tactics, but for now - let's just consider some of the peaks.

TOP 5 POSTS

With 189 pieces of media to choose from, a top 5 is hard. But here it is - my top 5 from Jan 16 to July 14. Each of these happened when there was no time to make them happen. Somehow they happened. I like that not a single one of these relates to Screen and Media, which is where much of my energy is focused.

1. Don't Stop Believin' - Courtyard Choir

Our first video to hit 1000 views on Youtube. Dave is great on camera articulating what he does here, and the student body really embraced this day in May when year 11 and 12 did battle by choir. The song is perfect, the students were generous in allowing themselves to be seen (and heard). This was timed to play on the last day of term, when almost no student was in the building. This was us burning the home fires - telling everyone that while they were away - there was a home waiting.

Note: Because of a copyright issue, this will play well on youtube if you click through, but it won't embed well on LinkedIn.

2. HEXAD Trailer

We think of trailers as a way to marshal an audience. It can also be a way to focus the team. This was the moment where we told the world that HEXAD was going to be worth seeing. I believe it influenced the outcome. Joel Fell's music, and the powerful imagery that all the student teams were capturing carry it.

There is another HEXAD video that was equally important - an interview with our Design and Visual Arts LC Kim Kofod that explained our use of project-based learning in the HEXAD project:

3. Employee Appreciation Day -

LinkedIn holidays are days that sometimes are celebrated more on LinkedIn than in the parallel reality many people live in.

Nobody wanted to take headshots at the start of the year when it was felt that our website needed updating. There is a natural embarrassment with our own images, and how they can reflect us, that rarely fails to stir our self awareness. But the image-gathering process had such a sense of fun as each staff member chatted with others off-camera. Staff who didn't know each other met for the first time. And so I began to shoot material documenting the process, unsure of the shape it would take.

Five weeks later, after a process of whittling the photos down to the one each staff member could live with, an idea came for a video we could feature on Employee Appreciation Day. Don't use the right photo - use every photo.

4. Making Learning Visible - The Red Dress

Making Learning Visible has been a wonderful series showcasing the everyday learning taking place in different classes at the school.

My personal favourite of these comes from Jo Sykes' Design Fundamentals class. This was filmed in 5 minutes before recess one day. Jo passed me in the hallway and asked if I wanted to get some footage of the students drawing. Six weeks later, this was edited in 30 mins on a day when there wasn't time.

More of the series can be viewed here:

5. Friday Fun - Nutbush

So many to choose from. Dave Dancing, Frances' Haunted Bradfield Reel. I couldn't go past the Nutbush Flashmob. I think we said a lot about our school that without knowing this was happening, we could document this and turn it around that day:

This has not been the only Nutbush of the year. We returned to the Nutbush one more time in light of Tina Turner's passing. And the staff joined in.

Runners Up

Wellbeing Day

With thanks to Pip, our Counsellor - this was the first time this year we managed to get out in front and do a post about an event before it happened, and shape expectations about that event.

Mimi's Food Technology tiktok

From Jam Dickson's Food Technology classes. This is what learner engagement can look like.

Frances' Haunted Bradfield

From a Business Studies Marketing class. I love that we've established a tone that allows this to be posted. No animals were harmed in the making of this reel.

HEXAD Events Team Reel 1

To a classically trained, landscape-format shooting filmmaker like myself, the below reel is not what I do. In 30 mins, the students - under the leadership of Busra - blew past me and got the kind of reach and likes I could never dream of. It taught me a lot.

Lightsaber Battle - May the 4th

That Screen and Media Trailer

Screen and Media is what I started teaching at this school. It always seemed to me that our screening nights should have trailers filmed for them. Until this year, there hasn't been time. This year, some would say there was too much time. Judge for yourself.

As with the Courtyard choir video, you'll have to click through to Youtube for the full video.

CODA

I could not have predicted where this has gone in 2023. It has exceeded my expectations to date. I look forward to seeing where this can go in term 3 and 4.

If you have thoughts - please comment below.

#bradfieldseniorcollege #tafensw #socialmediainschools #studentreels #highschoolstudents #highereducation