‘Play in a Week’ Summer Schools
This programme brings together new Year 7s to equip the young people with new creative skills and knowledge, build their confidence and team-working skills and offer a chance to engage with the facilities and other students in their new school.
Over five days, students work together to create a performance. We offer one or two week Summer Schools and tailor the focus of each week around different artforms including music, digital media, spoken word and movement. Students also take part in visual arts sessions to create scenic elements and props for the final sharing.
Schools we’ve worked with
- Between 2012 and 2015 we delivered a successful two-week Summer School in partnership with Oaklands Secondary School.
- Between 2013 and 2016 we also delivered a Summer School at Bishop Challoner Catholic Federation of Schools.
- In 2018 we worked with Central Foundation Girls School.
- In 2021 we worked with Mulberry School for Girls.
You can read past feedback on the project including impact measurement results below.
“Thank you to you and your wonderful facilitators, on behalf of all our students. They had the most wonderful week, and every time I went into the theatre it was a beacon of energy and positivity. The end-of-project sharing that the students produced was top-notch, really inclusive, thoughtful and funny. Your staff developed a brilliant rapport with the students. It really has been a pleasure all week.”
Case Study: Oaklands Secondary School, Tower Hamlets
Over two weeks, students worked on skills in drama, art, puppetry and music production to create two original pieces of theatre, one at the end of each week. The first, ‘CEL (Captain East London) vs CEO’, was a superhero story that the young people made up about their local area, using a giant puppet of Usain Bolt in the final performance! The second, ‘London 2012: Through Our Eyes’, was a theatrical montage of stories, sounds, art, music, poetry, film and dance inspired by the young people’s perspectives of London 2012. They explored what the city meant to them, how they felt about living in London as well showcasing their hopes and dreams for the future as they began their journey at secondary school.