CHILDREN in the Tavistock area will be among young people going to the cinema free of charge throughout the UK during National Schools Film Week.

The festival's goal is to support classroom teaching by providing schools with a powerful experience for their students that links directly to elements of the curriculum — supported by an on-line library of resources related to individual films and more generic topics, essentially an extension of the classroom.

More than 473,000 students and their teachers attended the festival in 2010 and this year the festival, which operates on a scale and with a degree of sophistication unknown in any other country —2,500 screenings at 570 cinemas across the UK — celebrates its 16th birthday'.

Karen Higginson, of Whitchurch Primary School, said: 'The experience was very useful from a literacy point of view, as it developed children's communication skills in discussing how they felt about the issues in the film.

'It also allowed the teachers to get to know the children on a deeper level in listening to their response to the film and the emotions it drew out.'

Claire Carawicz, of Mary Tavy and Brentor Community Primary School, said: 'The school really enjoyed attending NSFW and the children came back to school discussing the film, made comparisons between films and books and wrote reviews.'

Nick Walker, festival director, National Schools Film Week, said: 'Our hope is for teachers and students to feel massively engaged in the festival, as it is an incredible opportunity not only to build the adventurous, film-loving audience of the future but also to develop the kinds of passion in young people more likely to make them more receptive to this collectively experienced art form.

'This is achieved by in-cinema talks and on-line resources, which give teachers the tools to encourage students to explore and understand new cinematic worlds.

On Monday, October 17 children will be able to watch Yogi Bear, the following day the film on show is the Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Both films will be shown at the Wharf in Tavistock.