Over the last few years pupils from Kingsweston Special School based at Brightstowe were involved with the making of an animation based on William Caxton's original Reynard story about a mischievous fox. The pupils worked closely with Bristol university film and tv students, English Professor, Ad Putter from the University of Bristol, Aardman and the creative arts organisation Flash of Splendour, led by Steve Pratley and Anne Avery. It was a great experience for all.

Kingsweston's involvement started in Autumn of 2018, initially with some storytelling and stop animation classes given by Steve Pratley, which enthused the pupils about Reynard the Fox. This led to our first session at Aardman (November 2018) where seven pupils aged between 11 and 16 spent the morning in the cinema watching and discussing a range of short animations with leading animation experts and academics. In the afternoon we were introduced to script writing and took part in an ideas session in small groups where we began to story board some of our ideas.

Running alongside this in 2019 every Wednesday morning the pupils were involved in workshops with students from Bristol University where they experienced carefully put together presentations about the history of animation and animation styles and techniques. This led into workshops where the pupils developed their scripts, settings and animation style for their own take on the Reynard story. There were two more visits to Aardman & a day spent at Bristol University during this period

The pupils all have ASD and are educated in a special school in a reduced sized class with a high level of adult support. Some of the pupils join mainstream lessons for areas where they have a strength. The impact of this project on the speech and language and oratory skills, social skills and mental health cannot be underestimated for every single pupil involved. They experienced many firsts and developed in confidence.