Students help turn spotlight on drama in schools

15 May 2008

Students from a special educational needs school in Greenwich and a youth theatre group from the European Capital of Culture 2008 will take to the stage in the House of Commons today with their versions of two Shakespearean tragedies.

The budding actors will perform in front of MPs, patrons of the arts and major companies to highlight the importance of drama in secondary schools as part of ‘The Bard & Building Schools for the Future’ event.

Charlton School in Greenwich will perform a version of Romeo and Juliet using extracts of Shakespearean text, British Sign Language, and words and phrases from Arabic and Hebrew to tell the story of tragic young love. While actors from the Archbishop Beck Catholic College in Liverpool will perform extracts from their recent production of Macbeth.

Partnerships for Schools, the government agency responsible for the national Building Schools for the Future programme, has organised the showcase with the Shakespeare Schools Festival to demonstrate how taking part in drama productions can be a hugely positive experience for young people and teachers.

Dedicated drama studios, performing arts spaces, and theatres in new and refurbished BSF schools are helping to draw many previously disaffected young people back into full-time education. For others, involvement in drama gives them new skills and confidence which can be used outside the drama studio.

Tim Byles, Chief Executive of PfS, said: ‘Building Schools for the Future will ensure that each and every young person has the opportunity to unlock their talent and potential – whatever that might be. In the 13 new and refurbished BSF schools already open across England we are hearing great things about how state-of-the-art drama facilities are helping to entice students who were turned off learning back through the school gates.

“Active involvement in performing arts in schools is giving more young people than ever before the chance to work as a team and to make new friends, to explore and understand great works of literature, to develop confidence and self-esteem – skills that will serve them well for the rest of their lives.”

Last year around 20,000 11 to 16 year olds took part in the Shakespeare Schools Festival, giving some students access to live theatre for the first time. Chris Grace, Director of the Shakespeare Schools Festival, said: “We have seen how the Festival helps grow a sense of community as well as giving opportunities to see and take part in high-quality productions. Over the last seven years teachers have attested to the fact that many young lives have been altered and enriched as a result; and there are many benefits for teachers as they too develop skills which can be used in their day-to-day teaching.

“While some schools are already doing amazing things when it comes to drama, BSF schools will have new drama spaces that could be used for rehearsal and performance – and new schools have an important role to play in our vision for the future. We hope that this showcase will encourage more potential sponsors to help schools get involved with the Shakespeare Schools Festival.”

MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Amy Leonard on 07960 116966 or Nicky Old on 020 7273 0031.

Notes to Editors:

1. The Charlton School group first performed Romeo and Juliet in February 2007 at the Shakespeare School Festival at the Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon.  Since then they have performed it at Middle Temple, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and The National Theatre.  Alongside Romeo and Juliet they have also performed Twelfth Night at the Globe Theatre, The National Theatre, Bafta, and at The Queen's House in the recent Shakespeare 24 event, in which they were the only special school in the world to participate.
2. Last term the group also performed at the Churchill Theatre in the pantomime Peter Pan.  This was written, produced and directed by one of the pupils.  This term, as well as performing Shakespeare, they are also performing a sequence of Bible stories in rhyming slang at St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey.
3. Students from Archbishop Beck Catholic College have formed their own theatre company, the Beck Players, which produces and stages plays throughout the year.
4. Last month students from Liverpool took part in Shakespeare 24, an event on Shakespeare’s birthday when productions of his plays were performed at 7pm local time in every time-zone. This unique event began in New Zealand and ended 24 hours later in Hawaii. The UK contribution is hosted with the support of the Liverpool Culture Company Limited as part of the 2008 Liverpool European Capital of Culture celebrations.
5. A survey of 600 teachers involved in SSF reported:
   94% of teachers felt that the Festival had positively enhanced drama in their school;
   96% of teachers said the Festival enhanced their pupils’ understanding of their play;                     
   83% of teachers found the skills and exercises from the directors’ workshop transferable to other classes.
6. For more information about SSF see www.ssf.uk.com/
7. Building Schools for the Future (BSF) is the largest single schools capital investment programme for over 50 years. The aim is to rebuild or renew every one of England’s 3,500 state secondary schools during the lifetime of the programme.
8. Partnerships for Schools (PfS) is the delivery agency for Building Schools for the Future. PfS was established in April 2004 as a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB), and is operated and funded under a joint venture between DCSF (formerly DfES) and Partnerships UK. 
9. Building Schools for the Future projects are currently underway in Liverpool and in Greenwich, as well as in more than 70 local authorities nationwide.
10. There are now 13 BSF schools open nationwide: Bristol Metropolitan College; Ifield School, Kent; Michael Tippett SEN School; Sandon High School, Stoke; Birches Head, Stoke; Elm Green, Lambeth; Bristol Brunel Academy; Sixth Form, Haringey; Oxclose, Sunderland; Chaucer, Sheffield; Bamburgh, STaG; All Saints, Newcastle; and Solihull Centre for Inclusive Learning.
11. The new PfS website (www.partnershipsforschools.org.uk) includes progress reports on every BSF scheme, and a new online collaboration tool will be launched shortly to give stakeholders the chance to form online networking groups to discuss BSF issues and challenges.