As an organisation we are keen to offer cultural content to as wide a range of people as possible. To this end we have been taking the virtual reality experiences that we have created in conjuction with Rhondda Heritage Services into environments that would not normally have access to them. As an organisation, we are, without doubt, learning about the capabilities, wants and needs of some “harder to reach” audiences.
Most recently we had the pleasure of visiting Trinity Fields School and Resource Centre in Caerphilly Borough. The school is an additional learning needs environment (ALN). Trinity Fields is a busy, very impressive forward-looking, purpose built school that offers pupils many unique and innovative features in order to develop their skills.
The pupils from the Elm and Birch classes that we worked with enjoyed the VR experinces that we introduced them too; The Fossil Room and the Coal Mine (Pwll Bach Cwm Rhondda). The young learners (virtually) looked at Welsh fossils and travelled deep inside a Wlesh drift mine. We felt some pupils would benefit from a less interactive experince. Whilst some children would have liked to explore and interact more!
The session was of massive benefit to us as we continue understand the broad range of capabilities of children.
We’d like to thank all the teachers who helped with the session and especially Deputy Head Mr Anthony Rhys who facilitation was second to none. Thank you! – ends