EDUCATION EDITION
to the opportunity to shine. Children who don’t feel as confident will also get their moment on stage, but it might be as a less flamboyant character.” A recent year 6 production of The Wind in the Willows was triple cast (apart from Toad, which involved six children, two in each production) so that all 75 year 6 pupils, spread over three classes, had their fair share of lines to read. One of the school’s techniques to help boost confidence and reduce nerves is to start rehearsals months before the production. “We start in September and don’t do the production until March,” says Clare Cassidy. “Over six months, the children blossom, grow into their characters and, because you’ve rehearsed it so many times, it’s got that team atmosphere.” Perse Prep pupils in year 6 also visit the senior school’s professional-grade
theatre, meeting the technical teams in charge of sound, lighting, costume and stage management. With pupils from year 11 and upwards taking a leading role in running the productions, there’s a lot to aspire to. That drive to expand pupils’ horizons is much in evidence elsewhere, too. If the right music or drama doesn’t exist, there’ll be a talented teacher busily at work creating their own, coming up with a new adaptation or getting pupils involved in everything from lighting to choreography At St John’s College School, performances are ‘highly prized, with approximately 50 concerts presented each year,’ according to Simon Kirk. He singles out one concert in particular, staged at the West Road Concert Hall each year. “That performance seeks to encapsulate our raison d’etre: for music to be fun, first and
STANDING OVATION For St John’s (left) and The Perse (above), the arts are brilliant for oracy skills
foremost, for excellence to be achieved and for opportunities to be offered to as many children as possible.” This is echoed by the school’s music teacher, Drusilla Harris. “In taking part in the development and rehearsal of large performance projects, the children experience how being a part of a big team transports them to a level they could never have reached on their own. This opens up new horizons of what is possible in their imagination as a result,” she observes. Finding a voice You’ll also find performing arts staff involved in many other aspects of school life including assemblies encouraging pupils to stand up and act or recite to an audience. This plays an important part in developing their oracy skills – something that’s proved increasingly important in the years following Covid-19. Stoke College’s regular assemblies presented by different age ranges are run by Joanna Davey and provide an extremely useful function, encouraging pupils to play their part in assembly and building up from there. “It’s about going at their pace and developing them individually,” she says. Meanwhile, for Chloe Stone, a dance teacher at St John’s, physical self-expression through the arts is key to personal development and enhances a student’s approach to other topics. “At St John’s, children both learn to dance and learn through dance. Creative dance offers opportunities for cross-curricular learning, which can both reinforce and offer a new perspective to curriculum topics.” From plays to musicals, whole-school shows to assemblies, performing arts isn’t just a nice add-on, but an essential – not least in the way it encourages pupils to think differently about their classmates. “It’s about realising that we all have something different to contribute, and we’re all made up of all sorts of different flavours,” says Cory Pulman-Jones at The Leys. “Look at your peers, watch their work and be supportive and generous – then we can do anything.”
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