The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Baking Day
What better way to spend one’s first days at school than baking cakes and organising a party? Being independent, co-operating and eating.
From the collection of:
Overview
The progressiveness of the 1960s finds its way into the classroom of a Wakefield infants’ school. Amateur filmmakers Doug and Norah Brear have made an excellent documentary of five year olds baking themselves some cakes and organising a party, with the teacher making it also into a maths and literacy lesson. In the process the Brears extoll the virtues of practical learning, of children discovering things for themselves, and working in co-operation with others.
Doug and Norah Brear of Wakefield made over 60 films between 1960 and 1985. The ideas exemplified in this film were already mainstream since the Hadow Report on Infant and Nursery Schools of 1933. Here, already, can be found the ideas of children self-learning, activity- based learning, having freedom to discover, and the importance of collaborative work. All incorporated into the 1967 Plowden Report on Children and their Primary Schools. Yet this was also influenced by Cyril Burt and Percy Nunn and their ideas of hereditary intelligence. Hence the 1959 Ministry of Education handbook on Primary Education saw primary schools as a 'sorting, classifying, selective mechanism', ie streaming for the 11 Plus.
Related
Watch for free
Tie and Dye Tie and Dye
Cinemagazine 1970 3 mins
A snazzy intro to the ancient textile-dyeing technique taking the 70s fashion world by storm.
Watch for free
Time on the Wing Time on the Wing
Sponsored film 1969 33 mins Location: Darlington
Everything you always wanted to know about North East homing pigeons (but were afraid to ask).
Watch for free
Make-do-and-mend Make-do-and-mend
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1945 1 mins
A wartime family look on in amazement as their old clothes offer useful advice on how to make their clothing coupons go further.
Watch for free
To Cane a Trout To Cane a Trout
Promotional 1974 34 mins Location: River Aln
Quiet reflection on angling and the craft of elegant cane rods from the famous Hardy Brothers of Alnwick.
Watch for free
Pipe Dreams Pipe Dreams
Amateur film 1965 3 mins Location: Wakefield
A once common object in many households becomes transformed into a quirky dancing troupe in this simple homespun animation.
Watch for free
Model Clipper Sailor Model Clipper Sailor
Current affairs 1965 2 mins Location: Plymouth
Former shipwright turns his talents to model-making.
Watch for free
Play Bus Play Bus
Amateur film 1977 4 mins Location: Wakefield
The wheels on the bus go round and round, bringing toys and joys to pre-schoolers in West Yorkshire.
Watch for free
Pipe Dreams Pipe Dreams
Amateur film 1965 3 mins Location: Wakefield
A once common object in many households becomes transformed into a quirky dancing troupe in this simple homespun animation.
Watch for free
Kitchen Kaper Kitchen Kaper
Amateur film 1963 5 mins Location: Wakefield
The clinking of the milkman doing his daily rounds turns into a moving tale of romance between the contrasting beverages of day and night.
Watch for free
Don’t Worry, I'll Manage Don’t Worry, I'll Manage
Amateur film 1964 5 mins Location: Wakefield
A cautionary tale of what happens when a husband is left by his wife to fend for himself; forgetting to put tea in the tea pot for one thing.
Watch for free
What a Way to Go What a Way to Go
Amateur film 1979 5 mins Location: Wakefield
A nightmare scenario of a pauper’s funeral, as well as being buried alive, brought to life in this whimsical tale of a man laid low with flu.
Watch for free
Wakefield, Yorkshire Wakefield, Yorkshire
Travelogue 1955 3 mins Location: Wakefield
John Betjeman whimsically appreciates Wakefield and its people - who "are like their houses, unpretentious and a bit grim on the outside".
Watch for free
Khichdi Khichdi
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins
The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.
Watch for free
Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology
2023 15 mins
A satirical take on the healthcare service announcements of the 1960s and 70s.
Watch for free
Every Moment Counts Every Moment Counts
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 9 mins
A short animation that offers a window into the world of children’s palliative care.
Watch for free
Police Story: Panel Discussion Police Story: Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 24 mins
Panel discussion on Jackie Chan's 1985 action classic Police Story, with Chase Armitage, Sam Mak and Jadey Duffield.
Watch for free
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Watch for free
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.