Digital media can help in COVID times

We have been updating and adding new material to our many online collections to help you carry on teaching, learning or simply being entertained.

EasySRE our award-winning website has just had a makeover. This popular website offers teachers a vast array of resources at their fingertips, and it’s free of charge to Walsall schools and low cost to others.. EasySRE features high-quality videos that use drama, animation and interviews to explore Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and well-being. These resources cater for students from 4 to 18 years of age. Additional films are also available for students with SEND and parents/carers. They are accompanied by lesson plans and signposting information.

Game Changer (as seen in the clip above) was made for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and is our most recent addition to the site.

 A still from Help, I'm Hairy for Key Stage 2

Herefordshire Life Through a Lens is our archive teeming with interesting stories that record the social history of Herefordshire via the photographs of Derek Evans. There are longer interviews and shorter clips, as well as full-length films and many of Derek's photos. They present a fantastic resource for a wide range of interests in childhood, politics, culture, farming, county traditions, and rural life amongst others. We are currently adding unseen full length interviews from Chewing The Cud: Memories from Herefords Old Livestock Market and The Close In Living Memory (Hereford Cathedral Close Oral Histories). Plus we have made our two films from the project Stories from the Hop Yards and Carousel free to view online.

And for something extra there are two short films that provide a lovely snapshot of Herefordshire music and entertainment memories.

Bereavement support for young people this film was made to highlight the service offered by St Giles Hospice in the West Midlands. It has many helpful tips and perspectives from young people who have experienced loss so we felt it was a good time to highlight it again. Most regions will have a service similar to this if you know someone who might need a helping hand or check out the national organisation Good Grief.

We are have just commissioned Hereford based Voodoochilli to create a much overdue new Catcher Media website - watch this space. We shall be sad to say goodbye to this one. We would like to acknowledge the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their support at this time.