Students explored the art of puppetry and storytelling and used these new skills to enrich their school-based learning.

I spent four afternoons working at River Beach Primary school with a selected group of year 3 students. Our focus was storytelling through poetry, and we decided to tie this in with their English topic of 'The journey of a drop of water'. Participants worked in groups to create their own narratives about a drop of water travelling from the source of the River Arun to the sea, and used various puppetry skills to bring their story to life. They also made their own puppets, which they used in their final sharing to parents at the end of the project.   Creative Learning Practitioner

KS3 looked at devising and clowning workshops to support their progression with telling stories through physical theatre. These workshops will help build skills/tools which benefit them when exploring ‘Blackout’ in year 9, mixing Physical Theatre with scripted work.

“Charlie was amazing with the students. He ensured that the students understood and enjoyed every activity that he tried with them. Harry's workshops were very different to what the students have done before, these workshops worked very well with the Year 7s”

'Charlie made sure that we were all having fun and I feel like we created some amazing work.'

“I feel the students left the workshop with a wider knowledge of the topics provided”

The regular weekly programme of creative learning which explores drama skills and theatrical devices, gives students the opportunity to develop confidence, teamwork skills and self-expression through creative play and story-telling.    

‘The most satisfying element of the journey for me was when I saw them wanting to work together. Their age and their very different sets of needs meant they all were very individual and not able to come together, focus as a group or team and work together for a common goal at the beginning. 

However, with the help of the wonderful staff joining in, by the end, they had a vocabulary and physical ability around working together and that made me very proud. The other thing that was astounding was the unlimited capacity for expressing an unbridled imagination without the usual restraints of peer pressure and nerves. I was inspired and astonished by the range, capacity and occasional intense hilarity of what they would come up with.’  Drama practitioner

Art Leaders at Manor Green worked on telling a short, animated story using puppets/masks about finding the Hero in yourself.  This project was an enrichment opportunity to develop the skills of the Arts Leaders and was an opportunity to produce a piece of work to be shared with the rest of the college at the Winter Lights Festival in December.  

"We have absolutely loved having Liam to work with our Arts Leaders! He has been an absolute joy, full of enthusiasm, joy and encouragement for our young people. They have all grown in their confidence and improved their listening and collaboration skills. They are so excited to take home their puppets as a momento of the project which has been very special, and I'm sure an experience they will remember for many years to come."

In the Autumn term we ran a series of workshops for year 10 & 12 students at Felpham Community College aimed at enriching students theatrical learning.  These comprised of a series on Devising Techniques, Shakespeare, Physical Theatre and Verbatim Theatre and were delivered by industry professionals.