Schools’
Newsletter
Summer 2016.
Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory Hamlet workshop with Exeter College
Our education programme is a year old, and in this time we have worked
with over 1,000 pupils and students from 21 schools and colleges…...
From Gangsta Granny Drama and Art workshops in the primaries to Exeter College International
Baccalaureate students to GCSE classes across the county, we’ve had a fantastic time since last September building partnerships with schools, colleges, teachers and pupils.
We’ve seen St Martin’s Primary Cranbrook dancing in the aisles, acclaimed film and stage actor Nick
Moran rehearsing with BTeC Performing Arts students at Exeter College, the Mark Bruce Company
working with A Level Dance classes and Northern Ballet dancing with pre-school children. We’ve also been working with WESC Foundation – The Specialist Centre for Visual Impairment, on a six week
drama project which involved learners performing their own piece of theatre to the whole school
and college. We pass on our thanks to all the artists, performers, teachers, and most of all the young
people, for their enthusiasm and congratulate them on their achievements.
New partnerships….
We’re working hard to find out what we can do
to support your students, your school and your
curriculum. We’re listening to what you want to
see on the Exeter Northcott stage and how we
can help make your job as a teacher easier.
It might be about coming to us, but it’s also
about us coming to you, too.
This newsletter is to bring you up-to-date with
what we’ve been doing, to let you know some of
WESC Learners Us and Them Photo: Jim Wileman
the things you might be interested in for the autumn, and to encourage you to get in touch to talk about how we can work together.
Contact Lisa at [email protected]
Some highlights from the year…..
We’ve been talking with teachers from across the county to find out what we
can do to support your work in the primaries, secondaries and in further education. Here’s a snapshot of resulting work:
A Christmas Carol workshops were enjoyed by 330 students across 10 schools!
Over 200 primary pupils took part in our Gangsta Granny Art and Drama workshops, which culminated in an exhibition of amazing work in the Northcott foyer.
Our Betrayal workshops were well received by students at Key Stage Four and
by Exeter College A Level, BTeC and International Baccalaureate students, with
over 150 young people exploring the style of Pinter’s language and structure.
West Exe Pinter workshop
Dawlish Community College Textiles GCSE students designed costume and
props inspired by Metta Theatre’s amazing adaptation of Jungle Book . Their
work took pride of place in the foyer throughout this sell-out show, and prompted brilliant feedback from audience and cast alike.
“Fantastic design work with some very creative and imaginative research. Great
skills shown in the crafting of the final pieces.” (Audience feedback, costume project).
Gangsta Granny exhibition
“The workshop was professional and interesting. It was run
efficiently and intensely and I learnt a lot from it. I would
definitely like to do this again.”
(AS Student, Exeter College on Pinter workshop)
Partner Schools’ Project
Jungle Book Costume exhibition
Over the last year we’ve been delighted to work closely with teachers and students at Dawlish Community College, Exeter School and
Isca Academy. As a pilot for a possible future Partner Schools’ Package, the 3 schools have been talking to us, and each other, about
what they want from Exeter Northcott’s education and outreach
offer, and about how we can support their curriculum.
Partner Schools’ Day
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The year’s projects culminated on June 24th when Years 9 and 10
Drama students from all three schools came together to share work
they had created. Students had spent time in their Drama lessons
responding to the same text, Do We Ever See Grace? By Noel Greig.
In the morning, students participated in a workshop session in which they worked in
mixed groups with students from the other two schools, and the afternoon was spent
with groups sharing the work they had created in their schools and giving feedback on
each others’ responses. It was fabulous to see the range of creative and artistic responses that the students had made from the same text.
We would also like to thank Northcott Associate Company, PaddleBoat Theatre , for
their support with this project.
Exeter Northcott Student
Ambassadors
We are proud to announce that we now
have a group of 8 young
people from across the
county who represent
Exeter Northcott Theatre
in their communities and
schools. Coming together
for regular meetings and
representing us at press
Learners at WESC in rehearsal for their devised piece, Us and Them. Photo: Jim Wileman
Working with WESC
We are thrilled this year to be working with learners at WESC Foundation – The Specialist Centre for Visual Impairment. One of our projects
involved learners at WESC performing their own piece of theatre to
the whole school and college as a result of six weeks working with Exeter Northcott’s Education and Outreach Officer Lisa Hudson.
events and season
launches, this group of
Year 10—13 students are
part of the first year of
the project which will be
rolled out in September
to include University of
WESC learners responded to the themes in David Campton’s play Us
and Them, which involved exploring ideas of difference, of what puts
barriers between people, and, importantly, how we might learn from
our mistakes to reach understanding and reconciliation.
Audience response to this piece was really
positive. Jill Dudding, WESC’s Head of
Health and Supported Housing, commented: “Loved the simple props… an amazing
performance, very thought provoking…”
Jungle Book workshop at WESC
In addition, during the sell-out week of
their show Jungle Book, Metta Theatre’s
Sheila Attah led a workshop with the whole
school and college in which learners were
introduced to the hip-hop style of the
show as well as some of its characters.
WESC drama teacher Julian Davey said:
“Sheila, by her enthusiasm, energy, moves
and rhythm, stirred both students and staff
alike into animal inspired movement and
dance!
Exeter Undergraduates.
It was amazing, I loved it
and it really developed
my acting skills….. I found
it so much fun. I really
want to do it again and I
liked how everyone was
involved. Thank you so
much. I really enjoyed it.”
(Exeter Steiner Academy
student, on A Christmas
Carol workshop)
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Peter Pan this Christmas!
We’re so excited that our
2016 Christmas show is a
brand-new adaptation of
J.M Barrie’s much-loved
classic, Peter Pan and
that it will be an inhouse, Exeter Northcott
Theatre production.
We invite you and your
students to join Wendy,
John and Michael as they
soar into the night sky
with Peter, to a magical
land of mermaids and
fairy dust, where children
can fly and all sorts of
exciting adventures happen every day.
Featuring a really special
group of local young people, death defying feats
of flying and a generous
sprinkling of fairy dust,
our magical new stage
adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s classic story is the
perfect festive treat for
your school!
Get ready for an awfully
big adventure…..
For schools’ ticket prices
and early bird offers, visit
our website.
Peter Pan Workshops for your school
Why not accompany your trip to see Peter Pan with a Drama workshop, delivered at your school in October, November or December?
Aimed at Key Stage Three, the 2 hour creative and practical workshop
for up to 30 participants will explore some of the social and historical
aspects to Barrie’s text and will encourage students to examine
themes raised in the characters of the Lost Boys. The workshop can
also be tailored to Key Stage Two.
Search for our Lost Boys….
For more information and to book, visit our website or contact Lisa
on [email protected]
The search for our talented Lost Boys started back in April, when we
put out a call for 20 young people aged between 10 and 15 to take the
roles of John and Michael and the Lost Boys. We were inundated with
applications and had to add extra workshop sessions to ensure that
we saw everyone. Following a call-back session in June we cast our 2
teams each of 10 young actors, who will share the month’s run of
shows between them.
We know that they will all be amazing representatives for the Northcott and for their schools, which are listed in full below!
Our Lost Boys come from: St Sidwell’s Primary, South Dartmoor Academy, Plymouth
School of Creative Arts, Exeter School, Dawlish Community College, Colyton Grammar,
Teign School, Sidmouth College, Tiverton High School, Uffculme School, St Peter’s
Exeter, Uplowman Primary, Clyst Vale Community College, Newton Abbot College, The
Kings’s School Ottery, Kingsbridge Community College.
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Exetreme Imagination 2016
Following on from the success of the 2014 festival, Exetreme Imagination returns in October. As part of this year’s festival, Exeter Northcott
is delighted to welcome, amongst other events, Jasmine Vardimon’s
new adaptation of Pinocchio, Michael Morpurgo, and Northcott associate company Le Navet Bête’s smash-hit comedy Dick Tracy.
We are also delighted to be working in partnership with RAMM on a
series of workshops:
Signs of Hope? Exploring Young Adult fiction through Drama.
These free creative and practical drama workshops are aimed at young
people aged 13 – 17. Drawing on the theme of the environment in a
selection of Young Adult novels such as Lois Lowry’s The Giver quartet,
they will explore how the characters in the stories interact with the
changing world around them.
Jack’s Journey: Art and drama workshops for 5 – 8 year olds.
Children attending these workshops will join Jack, a character specially
created for this year’s festival by children’s illustrator Victoria Byron,
as he goes on a journey full of adventures around the museum. They
will be encouraged to create their own adventure for Jack using art
and drama in a series of fun and imaginative practical workshops.
For more information, look out for flyers and brochures in your
schools soon or visit exetreme.org
Dance and more dance!
One of the areas where we have made significant progress over the last year is in Dance outreach. We are
working with visiting companies and schools to create
partnerships to support your curriculum. We’ve seen
Northern Ballet working with pre-school and Key
Stage 1 and 2 children, Ballet Boyz piloting digital
teaching and learning resources with Key Stage Three
and Mark Bruce Company leading Dance workshops
at Exeter College.
We’ve also been finding our own local talented young
people to support what happens on our stage. One of
our Associate Companies Metta Theatre trained a
group of local dancers, gymnasts and skaters to perform as part of the professional company in their
smash-hit Jungle Book, and have been working with
this chorus again in the last month in the development of their new hip hop musical, Wind in the Willows. Watch this space for more information on this
one, and thanks to the students of West Exe and Isca
Academy who came to give their valuable feedback
on Metta’s work so far on this show.
“Working and being able to perform within the Jungle Book
tour has by far been one of the top experiences of my life.”
Chorus and cast Metta’s Jungle Book
“The moment I walked into the first rehearsal room, I never
thought that the strangers in the same room would become
a big part of my life…”
Members of the Jungle Book chorus
“I liked the drama because I got
to experience performing in
front of the class. I like the art
because it made me look at
Granny in a different way. Thank
you very much.”
(St Martin’s Primary, Cranbrook
pupil on Gangsta Granny art and
drama workshop)
If you are planning a visit to the
Northcott with your students,
don’t forget to download the risk
assessments from the website.
Already created for you, the coach
travel and venue assessments are
available to ease your workload in
the run up to the trip.
More for the Autumn
Mr Popper’s Penguins Drama Workshops this September!
For groups of up to 30 children in Reception and Years 1, 2 and 3.
Exeter Northcott and PaddleBoat Theatre offer fun, practical workshops to introduce
children to this lovely show,
which comes to our stage at
the beginning of October. For
more information, visit our
website.
Monstersaurus Family Fun Day
Following on from the success of our Goldilocks and the Three Bears
events in June, we are thrilled to be holding another day of colouring,
face painting and the chance to sample a monster-themed picnic bag
on Sunday 25th September. With shows at 11am and 2pm, these activities are the perfect way for your little ones to extend the monster
fun!
Exeter Northcott Theatre
Stocker Road
Exeter
EX4 4QB
Box Office: 01392 726363
www.exeternorthcott.co.uk
Education and Outreach Officer
Lisa Hudson: 01392 722411
[email protected]
Education news, resources and
information:
exeternorthcott.co.uk/about-us/
education-and-outreach
“It has been a pleasure and privilege to work with staff
from Exeter Northcott this year. Our students have
flourished with the opportunities given to them by the
Education Team, developing confidence; self awareness
and raising aspirations of what they can achieve. We have
also created a Theatre Club for students with regular visits
to the amazing range of high class performances at our
local professional theatre, Exeter Northcott.
It has
certainly made our year memorable for the students and
teachers alike.”
Maria Freestone, Deputy Team Leader English Team
Isca Academy
You can make enquiries of the education department, book
workshops and tickets throughout the summer holidays!