Education Ambassador Simon Pile

Teacher at Anson Primary School in London, England

Simon Pile with Nicholas Pinnock at the Into Film Awards
Simon Pile with Nicholas Pinnock at the Into Film Awards

I have been an Education Ambassador for over five years and feel immensely proud to be part of a team of educators who explore the possibilities of learning through film. Being part of any diverse education group means that you get to learn from different educators in different settings, and build on the ideas that you know are successful.

Who wouldn't want to have an impact on children across the UK by working with an organisation that values education so much and listens to your ideas/feedback?

Education Ambassador, Simon Pile

I believe there needs to be an opportunity to share expertise in education. What I love about working with Into Film is that you feel like your professional experiences can feed into something much larger. Whether it's been supporting the rollout of Into Film+ or helping develop online courses, I genuinely feel part of shaping Into Film. After all, who wouldn't want to have an impact on children across the UK by working with an organisation that values education so much and listens to your ideas/feedback?

Over the years, I have published books about filmmaking, run #AppleEDUchats on Twitter around film/filmmaking and spoken at several events. We've had stories in the local press about our filmmaking projects and we have always actively advocated the work of Into Film on social media, tagging other organisations and schools who could benefit from their work. It's all about making it as easy as possible for other educators to feel like film is a valuable learning tool.

Every Education Ambassador session allows us to learn more about the resources available to support film. For example, improving literacy through the use of film has been critical in allowing us to embed film across the wider curriculum. Linking up with other ambassadors outside the sessions has also been a key part in sculpting our work at Anson Primary School. Our annual Anson Film Festival uses projects inspired by other educators that have been adapted to fit the needs of our learners.

Film is everywhere. We visit cinemas. We stream it on our televisions. It's in the palm of our hands. Imagine being able to harness that level of access to give children empathy for others, a different point of view, the ability to see a different place, connect with a different culture and enhance their vocabulary.

Simon is deputy headteacher at Anson Primary School, and will be taking up the position of headteacher from September 2022. As is already crystal clear, Simon has also been a committed and passionate advocate for Into Film for many years, even winning Teacher of the Year at the 2016 Into Film Awards. There's still time to enter this category and many more at this year's Into Film Awards, with entries closing on 31 March 2022.