ARU Research Report 2019

16 The Up Project ‘I think it’s really nice to go there because you can, because of our topic, they can tell us what they know, and when we have our next topic I’m sure they’ll probably know stuff about what it is maybe. And I think it’s really nice to have conversations with them…so I think that some of the people in the care home are just really easy to talk to. And it’s really lovely because you don’t get that much at school, you talk with the teachers, but that’s just, “I’m stuck on this”, but at the care home you can just talk to them about anything.’ (Child 6) As picked up upon in previous comment, this ‘real’ environment also offered children an opportunity to communicate and be heard in a different sense to that of the classroom. Children valued the freedom it offered for them to talk, be heard and listen: ‘You get to have a real conversation. Because you don’t have to put your hand up and then wait until someone is done, and then you have to go on to the next subject so you can’t say what you wanted to say, so you can just say all of it.’ (Child 7) Opportunities to Flourish For both teachers and children the time out of class to make the visits was time well spent, not only for the reality it provided but also for the new opportunities to flourish. For those children who may be less academically inclined, or those that are more introverted at school, they are described by teachers as thriving, against their expectations. For those that are more academic and perhaps more extrovert the opposite is described, however not negatively. While the new environment presents a challenge for these children, they present an opportunity for learning, teaching staff indicated they are forced to stop and reevaluate their normal approaches: ‘I think some of them, it definitely brings them out of their shell, definitely. So, you see children, you wonder how they’re going to get on because they’re quite quiet, but you actually see them come out of their shell and open up to some of the residents, which is lovely. Then you’ve got other children that are very exuberant and bubbly at school that actually have found it quite difficult of a situation to be in. So, it’s, sort of, how they handle it differently, it’s quite interesting, definitely….they seem to settle into it within a couple of weeks or so. I think maybe it’s because it is a lot quieter in there. It’s not like being out in the playground so it’s a bit more calming in there as well, and I think they just have to find their way a little bit and change their manner and behaviour in themselves really and then they find their feet and they’re fine.’ (Teaching staff) Children too recognised the visits as new opportunity to excel in a different way: ‘I think school sometimes can be a little boring, if it’s a lesson you’re not great and strong with, taking time to go out to the care home. The reason why I like just going out of school, I like it because everyone’s there, I look forward to going to see them because I just think they’re really lovely, and it’s just a great opportunity to go and make new friends, make newmemories for them, and just make them happy.’ (Child 6) The change in some children from their initial visits to their final visit was noted in care home staff too, who describe the transformations of some children: ‘I’ve also watched the children come out of themselves because often nowadays in school groups there’s often children who’ve got their own disabilities one way or another and we’ve had quite a few children in the last year that have come through with autism and I’ve watched them come out of themselves literally week by week.….So, I actually witnessed, it was last, I think it was the last group