As a theatre practitioner I have worked extensively within the creative educational sector. Before funding was cut I worked for Creative Partnerships, a scheme that placed artists in schools to work collaboratively on small to large scale projects. Often these projects were about finding alternative ways to engage schoolchildren with learning; many of my projects worked with the creative space as a tool for engagement and play.
Timeline of my projects:
2012 Banquet, Wolverhampton
The remit was Banquet. The idea - Take over the school to stage a living banquet.Working with year 9, Needless Allies devised a large scale project with the idea of food at its centre. We broke the piece into courses and interviewed the students about their favourite foods, their worst foods, their family traditions, their first memories of food, amongst others, and staged a promenade journey for the audience that culminated in a large banquet in the hall, equipped with a physical theatre adaptation of Sing a Song of Sixpence.
2011 Architecture study, Birmingham
As a facilitator I delivered a project with year 8 science to assess the benefits of extended days and a more pupil involvement in learning activities. This project involved devising an architectural trip to Birmingham, liaising with town planners and allowing the pupils to devise their own buildings for a plot in Birmingham.
2010 Heritage, Tamworth
A colleague and I worked with Year 5 conducting a series of workshops and city visits to promote pride in their and others’ heritage. We focused on creating news reports to improve literacy skills and confidence.
2009 Virtualise, Stoke on Trent
A colleague and I designed a trail for the staff of this school to engage them with new spaces as a tool for creative learning. As a specialist in trail based performance, this project used the whole school to re-engage the staff with their environment.
2009 Animation project - Science (with Stan's Cafe)
I was leading animation workshops for staff and pupils to inspire them to think creatively about teaching and learning.
2009 Smartie Mission, Birmingham (with Stan's Cafe)
Working with Stan’s Cafe, I ran sessions in the school creating a visual art project with Year 6 and Year 5 to improve their numeracy skills. http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/project-smartie-mission.html
2008 Distant Earth, Stoke on Trent
A colleague and I worked with KS2 on a site-specific project engaging pupils with new spaces to develop their creative writing and thinking, also with an emphasis on staff CPD. The devising of this large scale project involved liaising and working with the council and staff at a local theatre.
2008 Animation project, Birmingham (with Stan's Cafe)
I led workshops creating animations with Years 6 through to nursery. I facilitated the writing and making of the stories and edited the films to be put together on a DVD for the school community.
2007 Audio documentation, Coventry (with Stan's Cafe)
As part of a Creative Partnership project I worked with Year 7 pupils creating an audio documentary as a memoir to their first year at the school, and a welcome DVD for the new Year 7.
Timeline of my projects:
2012 Banquet, Wolverhampton
The remit was Banquet. The idea - Take over the school to stage a living banquet.Working with year 9, Needless Allies devised a large scale project with the idea of food at its centre. We broke the piece into courses and interviewed the students about their favourite foods, their worst foods, their family traditions, their first memories of food, amongst others, and staged a promenade journey for the audience that culminated in a large banquet in the hall, equipped with a physical theatre adaptation of Sing a Song of Sixpence.
2011 Architecture study, Birmingham
As a facilitator I delivered a project with year 8 science to assess the benefits of extended days and a more pupil involvement in learning activities. This project involved devising an architectural trip to Birmingham, liaising with town planners and allowing the pupils to devise their own buildings for a plot in Birmingham.
2010 Heritage, Tamworth
A colleague and I worked with Year 5 conducting a series of workshops and city visits to promote pride in their and others’ heritage. We focused on creating news reports to improve literacy skills and confidence.
2009 Virtualise, Stoke on Trent
A colleague and I designed a trail for the staff of this school to engage them with new spaces as a tool for creative learning. As a specialist in trail based performance, this project used the whole school to re-engage the staff with their environment.
2009 Animation project - Science (with Stan's Cafe)
I was leading animation workshops for staff and pupils to inspire them to think creatively about teaching and learning.
2009 Smartie Mission, Birmingham (with Stan's Cafe)
Working with Stan’s Cafe, I ran sessions in the school creating a visual art project with Year 6 and Year 5 to improve their numeracy skills. http://www.stanscafe.co.uk/project-smartie-mission.html
2008 Distant Earth, Stoke on Trent
A colleague and I worked with KS2 on a site-specific project engaging pupils with new spaces to develop their creative writing and thinking, also with an emphasis on staff CPD. The devising of this large scale project involved liaising and working with the council and staff at a local theatre.
2008 Animation project, Birmingham (with Stan's Cafe)
I led workshops creating animations with Years 6 through to nursery. I facilitated the writing and making of the stories and edited the films to be put together on a DVD for the school community.
2007 Audio documentation, Coventry (with Stan's Cafe)
As part of a Creative Partnership project I worked with Year 7 pupils creating an audio documentary as a memoir to their first year at the school, and a welcome DVD for the new Year 7.
