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How a visit from an award-winning documentary filmmaker inspired Good Life Schools changemakers to capture their own footage

Students at three Good Life Schools in Redcar and Cleveland welcomed an award-winning documentary filmmaker to their Good Life Group meetings last month! Natasha Hawthornthwaite is a film director and producer who will be visiting Good Life Schools across the UK over the next year to document the stories of young changemakers taking action in their communities.

As well as doing her own documentary filming, Natasha handed over the camera and mic to students to capture their own footage.

First stop was St Peter's Catholic College in Middlesbrough where Abigail, Peter and Dan took charge of the camera and conducted their own interviews with one another. Their Good Life Group have decided to challenge the pressure to buy new stuff by organising a school swap shop for their school community.

"I really enjoyed the filming. It made me think about all the things we could do with the Good Life Group and how we can make our school to be a better place to be everyday" – Dan, Year 9

"I had fun interviewing the other students in my year about what they thought of Good Life Schools. It gave me some more ideas of what else we could do." – Abigail, Year 9

Second stop was KTS Academy in Brotton. Students at the KTS Good Life Group wrote their own interview questions, spoke to the camera about their Good Life Schools journey and conducted their own interviews.

Cameron reflected that “What leads to a good life is being present in your life, having friends and being acknowledged by your loved ones.” 

The final stage of the film trip took us to Outwood Academy Redcar where students, Olie and Taylor, documented the Good Life Group meeting.

“I felt really comfortable with the recording, Natasha’s instructions were really clear and made it really easy with how to get the best angles.” - Taylor

“I really liked being a producer, i enjoy being in front of a camera and it was fun to talk to people about their different ideas” - Olie

Kai reflected on the filming that took place during the session “It felt really natural with how the good life team operated during the session”.

Check out an upcoming blog to find out what they got up to!  
 
This was the first filming trip of many for Natasha as she visits Good Life Schools across the UK. If you’re a Good Life School interested in filming your journey, get in touch with us at [email protected].   

“Through Global Action Plan’s Good Life Schools programme, thousands of young people across England and Wales are working together to take climate action in their communities. We are excited to collaborate with Natasha Hawthornthwaite to tell the stories of these young changemakers, from Redcar in the Northeast of England to Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales.”  - Claire Arnott, Head of Good Life Schools