Warner Bros. Studio Tour London Wins 2017 Sandford Award

Warner Bros. Studio Tour London was selected as a recipient of the 2017 Sandford Award! The non-competitive award is given out annually by the Heritage Education Trust to numerous historic sites, galleries, museums, and collections in the British Isles.

The Sandford Award honors curriculum-based education opportunities offered to schools by a variety of different heritage sites as well as recognizing informal learning opportunities, including family programs.

Most of us Harry Potter fans are typically so busy reveling over the fact that we’re among sets from the actual films that we probably don’t put a lot of thought into its educational aspects, but along with being an amazing and unique experience for fans, the facility also offers an incredible school program with a variety of educational classes.

The Studio Tour’s website has its own section dedicated specifically to the detailed education program.

Our cross-curricular education programme meets learning objectives from the national curriculum and exam board specifications. Young minds will be stimulated as they discover the extraordinary artistry, technology and talent that went into creating the Harry Potter film series.

Along with a full tour, the students partake in an hour-long class of Art & Design, Film & Media, Business, or English.

The Art & Design topics include costume, set, and graphic design as well as using perspective and camera angles. Film & Media includes costume development, the script-to-screen process, and using film sequences to tell a story. The Business classes focus on film industry careers and the business principles and marketing campaigns necessary to make films successful, while the English lessons focus on pitching movie ideas, instructional and script writing, and turning written word into a visual representation.

The information featured in each class can vary based on the students’ ages, but they are always taught by qualified educators and offer students an interactive outside-the-classroom experience. The Studio Tour has put in a lot of effort to make sure its programs are fun, educational, and relevant as well as meeting the national curriculum standards that put them in the running for the Sandford Awards.

As a winner of a Sandford Award, the Studio Tour can use the honor to promote recognition from educational institutions across the UK as a high-quality educational program. It also received a consultation by an expert panel of judges, which helps bring about positive changes to the program and an opportunity to be honored at an awards ceremony.

For any Harry Potter fan, a field trip to the Studio Tour would be a dream come true, and for students interested in pursuing a career in any aspect of the film industry, it sounds like a wonderfully educational experience! The Studio Tour was one of many deserving recipients of this year’s Sandford Award.