The poster on my classroom wall, a publicity shot for last year's part British film, Hugo, shows a boy hanging from the hands of a clock, in a parody of a famous Harold Lloyd portrait. It serves as more than decoration. Time and again it's used in lessons to illustrate the language of imagery: the clash of colours, the angle of the dangling feet, the font of the title, the expression on the protagonist's face. It illustrates how, a century on from the pioneering cinema of the Lumieres and Melies and the birth of the Hollywood studios, movies have found their way into every nook and cranny of school timetables.
Hele's School in Plymouth uses film extensively to reinforce learning and we're always looking for new ways to develop this. We joined Filmclub five years ago when it started and have had a keen membership ever since with groups of regular film fans eagerly turning out after school to watch films, talk about films and write about films along with 250,000 young Filmclubbers in 7000 UK schools.
Film literacy is a crucial cross-curricular skill and nurturing analytical approaches to moving image texts encourages learners to be similarly critical in all their reading.
Awareness of films as crafted works, as constructs that are shaped to impact on a particular audience in particular ways, leads to appreciation beyond enjoying a movie as a passive spectator. Reading film is an active, involving pursuit.
Kids are surprisingly keen to pick up terminology (wide shots, pans and dissolves) that allows them to describe what they've seen on the screen or pictured in their minds, so descriptive skills are developed as well as their imaginations.
Movies can also provide a springboard for a variety of projects across the curriculum – facilitated by the way Filmclub organises its huge range of titles by theme as well as genre.
Rather than seeing War Horse as a history project or Around the World in 80 Days as a lesson in geography (and therefore work!), members enjoy stories about friendship, adventure, love, redemption – features of the human condition wherever and whenever they're set. Just as persistence of memory tricks the mind into seeing images move on the screen, Filmclub tricks its young members into learning about human nature and the wider world.
It's also about identity. For the dedicated members our club provides a social experience where members can share their enthusiasm for the Eighth Art. The charity's latest campaign is about identity too. As we celebrate sixty years of Elizabeth's reign, Filmclub has compiled The British Connection: a list of sixty British movies from the last sixty years which offer an insight into social and cultural changes the country has seen since the Queen took to the throne.
The first British feature length animation is here in the form of Animal Farm (1955), which has aged incredibly well and, of course, says as much about human nature as it does about beasts of England.
The list provides youngsters with an opportunity to appreciate the development of storytelling and, through it, their place in Britain's unfolding history. It includes homegrown kitchen sink classics such as 1960's Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (would there even be an Eastenders without dramas like this?) as well as 1961's Whistle Down the Wind (and I defy anyone, adult or child, not to be mesmerised by the glimpse this offers into a bygone Britain!) There's more kitchen sink realism with Kes (1969) as well as escapist adventure in the form of 1970's The Railway Children and the first Bond film, Dr No (1962), with its remote island hideout and megalomaniac villain (The Incredibles? Austin Powers? You saw it here first, kids!)
For older kids, The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), Don't Look Now (1973) and Withnail and I (1987) are accessible while being unlike anything they'll have seen before. The Pythons get a look in with the Beatle-funded Life of Brian (1979).
More recent flicks consider serious contemporary social issues in entertaining ways. Four Lions (2010) and Attack the Block (2011) are excellent examples of film's potential to spark debate and, perhaps, understanding.
Part of the enjoyment of film is about identification with characters and there's a special buzz to be had from recognising locations. (A few weeks ago one member stood up to yell, "My Grandad lives there!" as the city of Wells appeared in Hot Fuzz!) A further level of fascination can be had when the backdrop and events of a story are familiar yet oh-so-strange. About a year ago, we watched Passport to Pimlico and pupils were amazed at this version of a London where kids clambered over bomb sites and groceries were delivered by bicycle – as much a parallel universe as the Aardman-animated sewer London of Flushed Away.
The past is like a distant planet but, through film's storytelling, youngsters can recognise their heritage and appreciate that this alien Britain is their home.
Even sticking to the list, we're spoiled for choice and the tricky thing is shortlisting the British films we want to cram into this term. Thankfully Filmclub gives further support in the form of an online guide for school clubs, offering film notes as well as plenty of suggestions for pre and post screening activities. This is a democracy and Hele's members are always involved in choosing the films, though they are encouraged to try something new as often as possible.
With Filmclub members have engaged with stories from ancient times and every corner of the globe. It'll be fascinating to celebrate the Queen's jubilee with a bit of time travel closer to home.
• Gareth Tucker has taught English and Media at Plymouth Hele's School since 2001. He's also a film buff who grew up watching movies and now stays behind after school, screening them for tomorrow's adults.
Resources on the Guardian Teacher Network
Filmclub's great films from the Queen's jubilee years resource
Film club's guide to refugee day
Film club's guide to international women's day
For more information on Filmclub and to register for a free online start-up session to start a club in your school, visit: www.filmclub.org or call 0207 288 4520. You can follow Filmclub on @filmclubuk
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