Cover story CASE STUDY


‘Our students have enjoyed theatre workshops and trips’


W


e have a hugely diverse intake of students at our north west London secondary academy,


with immigrant and refugee students from all over the world and a cohort that is around 50% Muslim. There are also high levels of deprivation and poverty in our area, so the much- needed help we get from the John Lyon’s Charity (JLC) really does enrich the lives of our students. JLC has funded several arts


organisations to deliver activities for groups of schools in our area, such as a two-day spoken word workshop by Paddington Arts, which was attended by 20 of our GCSE drama students. Those same students are now attending a residency programme of workshops run by the Kiln Theatre Project and again funded by JLC. It has been an incredible experience for them, as they have been able to learn fi rst hand how a theatre works and what goes on backstage. The charity also funded a performance by the Primary Shakespeare Company, which we hosted at our school theatre. We opened the event to the


families of Year 5 children in the area, so that we could build relations with prospective parents and future students. This is the second year JLC has


given us a £5,000 grant to fund the whole of Year 7 (180 students plus teachers) to go and see a pantomime. Not only is this the fi rst experience of live theatre for most of our cohort, but it has really helped build a sense of community and camaraderie for the year group, who now have that collective celebratory memory to look back on. Many of our students wouldn’t


be able to afford a trip to the theatre so it has been hugely signifi cant to make this happen for them. On the fi rst trip (to see Snow White and the Seven Superheroes at the community- based Millfi eld Theatre in Edmonton), we realised that many of our children were not familiar with the traditions of pantomime, such as the booing and the ‘Oh no he isn’t/ Oh yes he is’ interaction


with the audience. So on the second trip to the Millfi eld Theatre, we prepped the children in advance. This time they got very involved and absolutely loved it! Our grant from JLC covered the


cost of hiring two coaches to take the students on the 40-minute journey. The production was dynamic and aspirational, with lots of young people singing and dancing in the cast, which really engaged our students. Gavin Kensit, director of the arts and primary liaison lead, Capital City Academy, Willesden, London


FundEd AUTUMN 2023 13 FundEd SPRING 2023 5


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