My name is Phillip Lewis. I’m a documentary maker and father to three school aged children. Ten years ago I found a rusty old tin buried in my mother’s attic containing hours of movie film taken by my father thirty years earlier. My father passed away on my 4th birthday and these movies brought him to life for me and my three young children who never knew their grandfather. I became passionate about documenting the life of my children in movies.

When my eldest child started at school, I met with the principal to discuss how a documentary programme might be developed for classrooms. What became evident was that the compelling story was all about the teachers themselves and their relationship with their students. The aim of these movies was to go way beyond the traditional means of communication (still photos, open days, parent teacher interviews, year books etc) and focus on the essence that went to the heart of teaching - the role of teachers as people makers.

This meeting led to collaboration among teachers, students, parents and the film industry. The concept of a mini documentary of the class emerged.

Individual teachers would film their class using a special kit. These movies would in turn be edited by graduates from leading film schools and then distributed to parents and used by the school to connect with the community at many levels. The programme also dealt effectively with parent consent, and ensured video content would be created under a controlled environment and approved by the school.

Two years later, we road tested the ClassMovies programme with schools, including my son’s primary school. The documentaries were an instant success with parents, teachers, principals and the school community at large. In 2006 we established the ClassMovies Foundation to pilot the programme with low SES and remote Aboriginal schools around Australia. The response from these schools and their parent communities was outstanding.

In 2008, we partnered with Catholic Education in WA and together, introduced class documentaries to the entire Catholic primary school system.

The aim of the partnership was to create a programme that enabled every pre-primary teacher in all 120 schools to produce a class documentary. This partnership is now into a third year with over 95% of schools filming.

Today, class documentaries are filmed across groups of schools through our partnerships with education organisations in Australia and the United Kingdom. Thousands of teachers are filming with 97% planning to film again.

The programme is a proven and cost effective communication tool which is delivering outstanding results in the complex area of effective parent engagement. The programme also generates career starting training and employment opportunities for hundreds of graduates from the creative arts sector.

Class documentaries are win-win for the community. Teachers engage directly with parents who previously had little appreciation of their work; principals are able to use the movies to connect with their current and prospective families; and, children and parents have a life long memory of the class and teacher. In essence, each documentary captures the magic that’s rampant in every classroom.