Performance in school
- Mrs Cliff on Drama and performance at our Junior School
"Like theatre, Drama in schools can unlock the use of imagination, intellect, empathy and courage. Through it, ideas, responses and feelings can be expressed and communicated. It carries the potential to challenge, to question and to bring about change."
The words of Jude Kelly, CBE, Artistic Director of the Southbank Centre in London, sum up the importance of not just teaching Drama in schools, but embedding it into lessons whenever possible.
Drama, like other arts, involves imagination and feelings that help us make sense of the world, through the creation of imagined characters and situations; pupils develop confidence when speaking and their vocabulary is extended when they adopt roles and characters. You only have to take a peek at the role play area in the Reception classroom to see that this is evident from the word go at St Mary’s Junior School, Cambridge.
Through engagement in Drama the girls are able to use their imaginations, drawing upon personal experiences to bring poems, stories, films or plays to life in their own ways. Characters and personalities are explored through ‘hot-seating’, where girls can take on the role of a real-life or fictional character and then answer questions from the audience (made up of their peers). This experience goes a long way in developing both the individual’s and group’s ability to understand and empathise with characters from fictional stories or historical accounts. Being able to quiz Henry VIII on his attitude towards women is an experience that only Drama can create!
Exposure to theatre productions is a much loved aspect of the Drama provision at our Junior School. The girls in Key Stage 2 went to see The Railway Children at the purpose built Kings Cross Theatre last summer and witnessed the spectacle of a real-life steam train entering the theatre. As part of their War Horse topic, the Year 6 girls have watched the highly acclaimed National Theatre production. In the next couple of weeks, Year 3 and Year 4 pupils will be going to see Northern Ballet’s production of Tortoise and the Hare. The Christmas pantomime is always a much anticipated finale to the Autumn Term, performed in the school hall by a lively and energetic visiting theatre company.
This week Year 3 and Year 4 girls performed Alice! The Musical to packed audiences. Their engagement, enjoyment and blossoming confidence is a pleasure for all to see. All girls in St Mary’s Junior School, Cambridge take part in a Drama production; we ensure that every child is given the opportunity to develop key skills of communication, self-assertion and confidence through performance. Key Stage 1 girls take part in a Nativity play, created for them by their teachers and allowing every child to perform to large audiences, including the older girls in Key Stage 2. The end of the academic year sees the Year 5 and Year 6 girls perform a Shakespeare play in the garden. This is something that is truly unique to our school, where girls between the ages of nine and 11 take part in a musical production, using the original Shakespeare text. The experience of performing such rich stories and language in the school garden on a summer’s evening is an experience that stays with the girls for a life-time.
The playwright Alan Plater said:
"The most valuable asset a nation has is the creativity of its children." At St Mary's Junior School, Cambridge it is an ideal we hold close to our hearts.
Year 1 pupils have not only been learning to perform in front of their peers but also about the importance of being an appreciative audience during Music lessons.
The girls in Year 2 and Year 3 have been performing as part of their 'What's in the secret box?' activity this week.
Year 3 and Year 4 pupils performed Alice! The Musical this week, which was a joy to watch.
Year 5 pupils were learning about the gunpowder plot as part of their Stuarts topic, and used the hot seating technique so that the girls could really explore the emotions and motivations of the plotters. Elif C. is pictured below playing Guido Fawkes. The girls have also been studying Space recently, and in their Music lessons have just completed a group performance! Each group was given a planet and wrote a composition to reflect the God-like character represented in Gustav Holst's interpretation of the planets. The girls explored the use of many percussion instruments and some students even composed and performed on flutes and piano!
Year 6 pupils have been using drama techniques during Computer Science lessons to help in their understanding of algorithms - an excellent way to use skills from different 'subjects' to enhance learning.
The way I see it... a word from Mr Hald, Head of Juniors
As Mrs Cliff has highlighted, opportunities to perform are essential for children as they offer the chance to be creative in their own individual ways, to gain confidence, and also to deal with unexpected circumstances - in front of an audience.
This week's Year 3 and Year 4 performances of Alice! The Musical brought memories of my own experience of performing in Alice in Wonderland in Year 7. A shy and bespectacled child, I was given the part of Humpty Dumpty, which suited me well as I was able to hide behind the huge cardboard cut-out of the Humpty Dumpty egg (attached to 'legs' made of tights which hung in front of the 'wall') until I needed to perform (and fall off the wall).
In all of the rehearsals everything went according to plan; I toppled nicely off the wall, and emerged from the other side wearing a now-cracked egg cut-out. But, on the first performance to an audience, in a packed gymnasium, when the time came to topple neatly off the wall, my glasses got caught on the wall - my glasses broke, I cut my forehead, and I emerged from behind the wall unable to see and with a small trickle of blood running down my forehead!
But what I learned on the night was that although I was so embarrassed, no-one in the audience had known, as this all happened behind the wall. The lovely thing about performing is learning that an accident, or a wrong note, often go completely un-noticed by audiences - it really doesn't matter. The next night I had taped up my glasses, did it again, and everything went fine; a great lesson in confidence and resilience!