So I think I mentioned somewhere in a blog entry a few months back that I was working up at Alderton Junior with the Year 6s on Shakespeare's "Macbeth"... The project went fantastically well and I thoroughly enjoyed getting my teeth stuck into some of the Bard's great work (more on that to follow with the Shakespeare Schools' Festival!). The book that the young people were working from told the story in a very basic format without the tricky Shakespearean language. I soon mixed things up a little bit and introduced some more complex language and parts of the plot. We focused in particular on Macbeth's motivation and the role of Lady Macbeth in the events of the play. Everyone really threw themselves into the work with real gusto and we saw some fabulous results week after week from some quite abstract pieces of physical theatre that depicted Macbeths motivation and his inner turmoil to a game show trial of Macbeth versus Lady Macbeth. I've been asked to run this project again at Alderton next year so I'm already looking forward to that!
The Art Deco project with Staples Road continued to run successfully until the end of term with the Year 6's completed phone boxes to be displayed at RVHS for their start in September.
St John's World War 2 project also ran successfully until the end of term and after a meeting with Mrs Marbe we have some exciting plans for next year's provision.As the numbers of students in Red Class dwindled as they each settled into their new classes for next year we enjoyed some more general arts workshops and took advantage of the opportunity for some one to one working. I am looking forward to editting together the video footage from this programme (once I get some guidance from Mr Perera on the software!).
Our short summer arts programme ran from 4th-7th August in the Drama Studio here at RVHS and was a resounding success. With classes full everyday and a waiting list in place for any cancellations, I am very excited for the future expansion of our programme! The programme consisted of the following sessions:
Monday 4th: Play-in-a-day - devising physical theatre versions of 2 of Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes
Tuesday 5th: Street Dance - creating a short dance piece with a running narrative
Wednesday 6th: Musical Theatre - working around "We're All in This Together" from High School Musical
Thursday 7th: Arts and Crafts - creating shadow puppets and mock stained glass
Tuesday 5th: Street Dance - creating a short dance piece with a running narrative
Wednesday 6th: Musical Theatre - working around "We're All in This Together" from High School Musical
Thursday 7th: Arts and Crafts - creating shadow puppets and mock stained glass
The programme was open to anyone aged 8-13 from any school with a large part of our overall aim being to bring together young people who are due to start in Year 7 here in September. The transition from Junior School to High School is never easy but we hoped that our summer programme would help young people to feel comfortable in the building, get to know some other students who will be in their year and also to meet some RVHS students (and see that just because they are older they really aren't that scary!). Judging by the feedback it seems we have achieved what we had hoped with the young people who attended.
And as for the future... I am continuing to work with Chigwell Disability Group on a Friday morning, working to the Arts Award syllabus. I am also currently in the early stages of setting up a project in collaboration with Connexions to provide the Arts Award programme for a group of young people who are NEET.
Starting in October RVHS and Voluntary Action Epping Forest in conjunction with the Royal Society of Arts will be providing Arts Feature Nights monthly at "Ignite" (St Mary's Church's Friday night drop in). Also in collaboration with St Mary's along with Epping Forest Arts, RVHS Community Arts are looking to set up a Youth Theatre... more info on this to follow.
And as if that wasn't enough we will be continuing our work with local schools as well as developing a programme of adult evening classes and some more exciting projects which I will let you know about once they are more definite!
Lastly, we are looking to create a logo and some branding for the Community Arts Programme... all help and suggestions on this will be most appreciated so please do get in touch at communityartscoordinator@googlemail.com
Jen
