It has been a great year for our Shakespeare work!
Since becoming the lead Associate School for Blackpool, we’ve worked in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Grand Theatre leading primary and secondary schools across Blackpool. Across our Associate Schools, we’ve shared good practice in using active approaches and live theatre to engage the children in the works of William Shakespeare to improve attainment in literacy.
This year all our hub schools have taught Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In our school our KS2 classes have gained understanding of the play and the characters’ motives using the active approaches and they have produced some amazing pieces of writing.
In March our Associate Schools each performed three scenes from Macbeth at the Grand Theatre. Twenty-four children in Our Lady’s Shakespeare club rehearsed for months to get ready for their performance. The children were amazing and spoke Shakespeare’s words with such clarity and understanding. DVDs are now on sale for £5 from Our Lady’s school. See the promotional video from the Grand Theatre…
At the beginning of July, our Associate Schools’ hub took part in the RSC’s Playmaking Festival in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Our hub performed four scenes from Macbeth in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre alongside other Associate School hubs from around the country. We chose three outstanding performers from our school - Oliver Fallon, Gracie Frost and Archie Allan-Ford – along with twelve other talented performers from schools in our hub. The children came together to rehearse with such enthusiasm and commitment and were fantastic in their performance. The RSC have given these children the experience of a lifetime - one that they all embraced and one that I’m sure will live with them forever!
