1. Balsall Common Primary School & Damson Wood Nursery and Infant School
Part of Central Schools Trust (Multi Academy Trust)
Balsall Street East, Balsall Common, Coventry CV7 7FS
Tel: 01676 532254
Email: office@balsall-common.solihull.sch.uk
26 January 2017
Press Release - for immediate release.
_____________________________________
Balsall Common Primary School gets a special visit from Google Expeditions
Children from Year 2 to Year 6 were treated to a virtual reality experience from Google
Expeditions.
The children used cardboard viewers with a smartphone inside and were then led on an
expedition into fascinating places by their teacher who had control via a tablet.
The teachers were able to guide the children, asking them questions and giving them
interesting facts along the way. They were then able to see the 360 degrees images that
were so real they felt as if they were actually there!
The Mayor of Solihull, Councillor Mike Robinson, came along to offer his support on the day
and was very impressed with how inspired the children were.
“The great thing about new technology and education is get them to work together and they
inevitably work brilliantly! Google has the expertise to make that a reality and certainly does
so with its Google Expeditions package. At Balsall Common Primary I had the privilege of
experiencing that technology and to witness the children's reaction first hand.
Each of the lessons that I sat in on there was not one child that wasn't fully engaged with
what they were seeing and what they were doing. You couldn't help but notice how each of
the children had their eyes firmly glued to their own individual 3D viewer; lost in a world
uniquely theirs and yet fully controlled by their teacher. This is education at its best
captivating and holding students attention whilst stimulating their imagination, encouraging
curiosity and best of all giving them an appetite for future learning.
Well done Balsall Common Primary you did very well in persuading Google Expeditions to
visit your school. I must say I was most impressed and there is little doubt the children have
benefited from using this intuitive piece of electronic kit - well done school well done
teachers a definite 10 out of 10”.
Cathy Edwards, who organised the visit, said, “During the day they ‘visited’ museums in
Melbourne, Berlin and Chicago, went into space to explore the solar system and were even
able to explore the inside of a human body! The children really enjoyed their experience and
we hope to be able to offer this again in the future in an effort to continue to inspire our
2. children’s learning. You don’t need to close at the end of a paragraph if the speaker is
continuing on the next.
“If we could get 30 old smart phones we would be able to run our own sessions on a regular
basis and ask that, if anyone has such a phone that they no longer need, to donate it to the
school as it really will make such a difference”.
Howard Rose, director of funding and publicity at the school, said: “This was a great event
and shows real commitment from Mrs Edwards in organising this, I know how much hard
work went into this to make it such a success”.
Photo: Children from 5B and the Mayor looking at Oceans.
4. Ends
Howard Rose
Director of Funding and Publicity
Balsall Common Primary School & Damson Wood Nursery and Infant School
Central Schools Trust (Multi Academy Trust)
Balsall Common Primary School
Balsall Street East
Balsall Common
CV7 7FS
t: +44 (0) 1676 532254 ext 264
m: +44 (0) 7989 515252
e: s2hrose@balsall-common.solihull.sch.uk
w: www.balsallcommonprimary.co.uk
