Corner Shop School and Community Project
Participant Quotes
Teacher, head teacher, and parent quotes below the children's at bottom of page.
Julie: It's made me think that I don't have to go to the big supermarket, I can go to the little shops near where I live.
Ramah: Now I think it's better to shop in the small shops, not the big ones.
Caprice: I know the shops in Whitmore Reans now, because I talked to the shop keepers.
Hannah: I've learnt that barbers and hairdressers have to be different people to different customers every day.
Sabiah: I've learnt how to perform in front of an audience.
Hamza: I learnt to use my body more in acting. I get more excited now in everything I do. I got more excited when we did everything we did.
Tia: I learnt to work together, and it doesn't matter if you're in a boys' group or in a girls' group.
Shivm: Before I thought the whole class couldn't like succeed in anything, because we didn't work together, but now, because we're working together, we can do something.
Randeep: I liked going to the archives, and visiting all the shops, and watching the Corner Shop production, and mostly I enjoyed doing the play and our assembly.
Haroon: I enjoyed how we made everything for our production, how we put everything together and how we made our own big play.
Riham: I enjoyed doing the shadow puppet show.
Zaynab: I’ve learned that with any goal, it is easier to achieve it with a helping hand.
Sinead: I learned that I think I could be an actress. I never knew that before.
Chamandeep: I feel more confident now.
Joel: I don’t have stage fright! Now I know I don’t have to have stage fright!
Azim: I enjoyed going to the archives and drawing the old shop fronts.
Shivm: I know more about the history of Wolverhampton and Whitmore Reans now.
Zaynab: I learned how to work together, and how to interview people.
Aliona: I learned all about where I live – Whitmore Reans.
Haroon: We learnt about Whitmore Reans - now I want to find out about the rest of Wolverhampton!
Priya: I’ve learned that whatever you do, it doesn’t matter who it is or where it is, loads of pairs of hands make a bigger, better thing.
Sabiah: I want to see how Whitmore Reans is going to change.
Abdul: I learnt more about my classmates and about where I live, the local area.
Tia: I’ve learnt that I can be a good actress.
Abdul: I think that I can work with people even better now.
Zaynab: I think I’m a bit more happy and excited now.
Yonique: I’ve learnt how to work together and I’ve learnt like how to act, and how to behave in a shop for a shopkeeper.
Randeep: I think I’ve got better in my confidence.
Shuaib: I was thinking about going to Birmingham to stay there, but now I’ve just changed my mind. All this was trying to tell me to stay in Wolverhampton, instead of going to stay in Birmingham.
Yonique: It’s made me think more about the class, like how like we’ve improved in working together, and how we can just mix up like girl boy girl boy, instead of girl and boy. And like I’ve thought more about the shops on Newhampton Road, because I hadn’t been to much of them, but now I go into them, and I feel more warm around here. I wanted to go to a different country more than I want now. I still want to go to a different country, but if it was a scale for Whitmore Reans and the other countries that I wanna go to, like Whitmore Reans has gone higher.
Sumaia: Before I would say I want to do drama, and I then I would say I’m very nervous I’m not going to do that, but now, if somebody says, do you want to do drama? - from now I’m going to start saying YES! I want to do drama! Drama is very fun, and when I grow up, I might do drama.
Sabiah: I enjoyed when we got to go places, and we got to see performances.
Sundeep: I want to find out more about hair.
Joel: I learned to make shadow puppets.
Shuaib: We learnt loads about Whitmore Reans. I want to learn more about the shops.
Randeep: I want to find out everything about Whitmore Reans.
Yonique: I want to find out more about the City Archives, and when I’m not in Whitmore Reans anymore, how the place has changed and compare it with the time when I was living here, and how it’s changed.
Sumaia: I want to find out more about the shop keepers’ lives.
Dwight: I learnt that I can work together with other people, and that I’m much better at drama than I think I am.
Kenya: I think that I’ve learnt that um, yeah, when I used to do drama, before I wasn’t so good, and now I think I can do better at it.
Anmol: I learned about the corner shop.
Ahmed: I enjoyed when we draw with Randeep the shop front in the archives, which was very good.
Dwight: I learnt that shop keepers have to be many different things. I never realised that before.
Anmol: Before I didn’t like going at the small corner shops, I like to go ASDA or big towns, but now I like it a bit.
Hamza: I learnt to do plays more differently, and more excitingly.
Kenya: It made me want to find out more about acting.
Shivm: I learnt about how the lives of shop keepers are. How customers react, and things like that.
Dwight: I learnt that working with other people can be fun, and that time flies when you’re having fun.
Humza: I enjoyed the actual play, the actual performance, and running around with the cloth.
Dwight: I enjoyed going to the shops, and getting the free cake!
Ramah: I learned that I can be confident as an actor. I am better at acting than I thought.
Aliona: I changed my mind about Whitmore Reans.
Priya: I think that my mind changed, because I didn’t know that all these shops have something different in them. Yeah, I first thought that going to Sandhu’s Supermarket was boring, because before, when I used to go there, all I used to do was just wait by the passport photo machine, because it was boring. But now we’ve found out all these things are happening, so now whenever I go there, and I see the lady that we interviewed there, she always says hello to me.
Class Teacher: I'm struggling to say how it could have been improved. The rewards of being part of this project have been so great. I think it's made the children very proud to be who they are. It brought history to life for them and made it real. They can understand why they are where they are now. I think understanding where people's families came from and what happened when they came to this country has made the children a lot more empathetic to all of the different people we have in our community. I think a lot of the older generation who saw the performance - it really touched them, in a very personal way, because it reminded them of when they first came.
The children have loved all the challenges they've been set and have really risen to them. National curriculum objectives were met in everything we did - in history, geography, DT, literacy, creative skills, social skills, practical skills, thinking skills, and problem solving skills were going on all the time. There was so much creativity in all of it - they have benefitted tremendously. Their creativity has been hugely stimulated throughout this project - it has been like the proverbial ripple in a pond: you'd start off with something tiny and it would just grow and grow and grow. I think the speaking and listening activities were the most successful because they gave children who don't normally shine in those activities chance to have a voice and for their voice to carry meaning.
Head teacher: I think it has been excellent. The children have got so much out of it. And the rest of the school has learnt something about the area too, even if they haven't participated in the project. The school's relationship with the community and with the parents has benefitted. It seems that, from their feedback, they have really appreciated and valued it . It's helped the school strengthen its links with the local community. And I suppose the community has benefitted, because the children are more likely to use their local amenities, aren't they? A project like this gives staff ideas of how to make things come alive - how they can use local things and local people to develop curriculum activities.
Chamandeep's dad: Chamandeep has been very excited about this.She forced me to come and see the performance. It's a very busy time at the temple at the moment, but she made me come. It has really increased the children's confidence. And it has increased their general knowledge about the whole town and the world. So, lots of gains.
Zaynab's mum: Zaynab's loved it. She's come home all happy each day she's worked on this.
Caprice's mum: Caprice was interested in going out on the trip to the shops, and getting to explore a lot more than when she goes out with her parents. I think knowing more about where she comes from - Whitmore Reans - and how it's come to be the way it is - that's how she's benefitted.