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The latest from the Newsletter for our Arts in Education programme:
The programme is delivered by the Company of Players and Tellers.
Their website is at www.playersandtellers.co.uk CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PLAYERS & TELLERS WEBSITE Take a look and CLICK HERE TO EMAIL any comments, requests etc to info@playersandtellers.co.uk
Order your copy of the Shukalaka Shake CD, songs for children at www.playersandtellers.co.uk
SPECIAL PROJECTS
2005 Activities:
Support for the arts and this is a growing area of work which we aim to expand with new programes in future. Plans include the creation of a sustainable new community arts centre which will be a resource for the whole Borough but with a presence and identity beyond. We will also be building public art into future developments and re-developments on Trust land in order to contribute to the quality of the local environment and to create unique and distinctive spaces.
Currently our main engagement with the arts is through our Everyday Magic programme.
Everyday Magic – an arts in education programme with local primary schools:
The aim of this programme is to broaden the creative opportunities and experiences available to children, stimulating them with a range of artistic possibilities built around their own creative abilities. It is about learning through artistic discovery and creation, about children having fun producing work which they are excited by and proud of.
8 schools - over 400 children enjoying sessions every fortnight:
Eight primary schools in Kensington & Chelsea are involved in this fortnightly programme of creative work around song, performance, theatre, storytelling and the visual arts. Five are in North Kensington: Bevington, Barlby, Colville, Thomas Jones, St Clement & St James; and three, Malborough, Servite and Park Walk, are in the south of the borough. The sessions involve over 400 children from Nursery to Year 6.
A network of over a dozen artists
The programme is delivered by the Company of Players & Tellers, a network of freelance artists engaged by the Trust. Over a dozen artists have been involved, coming from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and offering diverse skills, all are engaged in collaborative projects in galleries, theatres, museums and open spaces in this country and abroad. This wealth of experience is brought into the schools.
Telling the story
Anne Johnson, who coordinates the Everyday Magic programme for the Trust, explains:
"We bring storytellers, visual artists, dancers and musicians regularly into primary schools to provide a little bit of that ’Everyday Magic’. We believe children excel when they are enjoying themselves.
"We work alongside the teachers and either the head teacher or deputy meet regularly with the coordinator of the project to discuss themes, creative collaboration between teacher and artist, and which curricular links can be made with the storytelling performances and workshops."
"The programme develops the children’s listening skills, expressive oral vocabulary, expressive written work, general performance skills and increases their confidence and self-esteem. The children listen because they are having fun, whether they are guessing the answers to riddles or getting their tongues around tongue twisters and improving their articulation as they do so. They get absorbed in the stories, so it is no hardship to listen."
"The artists work in pairs and run two performances at one school in the morning and then two performances at another in the afternoon. Class teachers are always present and use the stories, rhymes, refrains and riddles in classwork to either inspire expressive writing or performance. The programme has grown over the last 3 years and special projects, developed in response to individual school’s particular interests, are now devised to run alongside the regular fortnightly programme."
One of the artists, June Peters, recalls a session she had at the end of the Summer Term:
"We had a great time with Reception class making a ship. We got into pairs and one was the mast and the other the sail, everyone else the wind and when the wind blew the masts went ‘creak’ but only moved a bit, while the sails went wild. Later, the other group were the sea dragon [they did insist it was a monster] and some were the eyeballs, some the teeth, some the claws and some the tail. Very terrifying!"
Kevin Graal a regular storyteller on the project is impressed by the children’s involvement, he said:
"It was very heartening to see how the children who we worked with last year are now primed and hungry for stories! They know how to receive a story, to see it in their imaginations, to take it in different directions, to understand subtleties, to relish ambiguities. Thanks to the programme they’ve become expert story-makers and that’s good for everybody – them, the teachers and us!"
Continuing to develop - Special Projects developed with local schools:
Anne Johnson describes some of the years projects:
Talking Walls
Talking Walls, developed with Bevington and Marlborough Schools provided a real collaborative project in which the whole school was involved. A team, made up of a storyteller, a musician, a visual artist and a sound engineer worked with all age groups over a period of two to three terms to transform a space in the school into an installation, an imaginatively created ‘other’ environment using visual art forms, lighting and recordings of story, poetry, word pictures, song and sound effects. The transformed space was then launched with a performance of music and stories and the space used by the school as a resource.
As well as concentrating on children’s expressive oral vocabulary and musicality, Talking Walls had the objectives of increasing children’s general visual awareness and of developing their making skills. In order to achieve what they did, the childreb had to co-operate with each other and work as a team, particularly when they were recording their refrains, poems and music for the final CD which was played as part of the installation. These important social skills are obviously paramount to experiencing enjoyment and achieving any kind of excellence.
Araban Nights
At Marlborough we had an Arabian Nights theme, and took "The Adventures of Hamza" as our main inspiration. We had as a resource, a splendidly illustrated book produced by the Victoria & Albert Museum following their exhibition two years ago. This featured a collection of vibrant paintings and larger than life stories.
The installation was launched at the school's International Evening. We had two members of our company of freelance artists improvising music with an Eastern flavour on violin and percussion. The room was packed with children and parents, teachers and visitors. The children were eager to show their parents which part of the installation they had contributed to and they all stayed to listen and in some cases, dance to the music.
"It is wonderful" said Jessica Viner the Head teacher. "The parents love it and we will keep it up as long as we can to use as a creative space for all classes."
"I want to spend my holidays here." Said one girl.
Rainforest
At Bevington School we worked with the teachers and children to turn a classroom into a Rainforest complete with sounds and smells.
"This project has the WOW factor." said John Towers, Head of Bevington.
"This is a very special project as every child has something in that room. It is a multi-sensory experience and it has captured the children’s imagination. Visitors to the room have all said how fantastic it is and have been impressed by the quality of the work."
Playground Games and super dooper skipping
This project, which we ran for Year 2 of Servite School. Originally developed with Marlborough and Thomas Jones Schools in 2003/04, this project brought the opportunity to utilise the skills of our sports development staff. At Servite School, in May, June and July of 2005, we involved Laura Pugh of the Trust’s Sports Development Outreach Team and a trainer from the Portobello Fitness Club. It was great fun and in the six sessions all children had learnt how to skip, some very well indeed. Their teacher was delighted to see that children who were not yet doing so well at reading and writing were gaining confidence and self-esteem through their success in this project. Servite School have asked us to repeat the project with next years Year 2.
Dance and Drum Project
This Year 6 project at Marlborough school, working with Lia Prentaki, dancer and choreographer, and Michele Chowrimootoo, percussionist and sound engineer, enabled the children to create a wonderful performance about their experience in primary school and their concerns on facing secondary education. The influence from previous storytelling workshops was evident in the way they chose to write the text and express with clarity their emotions on leaving the school they know. The show was performed before the whole school and the children’s families. It went well and the children shone, making it a fitting finale to Year 6. Lia and Michele, both very talented artists, also enjoyed working together.
Plans for the future:
We already have plans for future special projects to begin in the Spring of 2006. One, which is as yet at an embryonic stage, is ‘Family Faces’. A project focused on visual awareness and an emphasis on self-esteem and belonging. The starting point will be paintings in galleries of families or family members. Prints of which will be collected from art galleries or downloaded from the gallery’s websites and displayed on the whiteboard in the classroom. Then storytellers will research and work on stories that can be told about the paintings and the people in them to either Key stage 1 or 2. Then working with an artist in either paint or in 3D each child will create a representation of their family and with the help and co-operation of older family members choose family stories to write and tell. Inspiration for this project came from work being done at the National Portrait Gallery.
Another area where the Everyday Magic project is developing to meet schools needs is in language - now primary schools have a responsibility to teach another language we are being asked to include rhymes, short stories and songs in another language as part of the programme.
Looking farther back, Spring and Summer 04's special projects were:
Conversing with the Ancestors (at St Clement and St James school)
This pilot project with year 5 worked on creating imaginary conversations with characters from ancient myths and legends.
These were recorded on a 4 track and a final script recorded with sound effects. It was a real pleasure to work with Janet Dawson, year 5's teacher and the school would like this pilot to be repeated with the next year 5.
Telling Animal Stories through Words. Design & Dance (at Colville School)
This pilot project with year 3 worked with dance, story and design and culminated in a performance by two classes of year 3 children for year 2 and year 4 and parents and teachers.
Sheila Wigett (Headteacher) was very enthusiastic in her appreciation of the performance. Everyone loved the amazing bird faces, thanks to Nella and Jackie of Apple. The children, with only 4 sessions to experiment and practice, gave a lively dance and song rendition of 'Anancy and the Birds'.
Post A Letter (Marlborough & Bevington Schools)
This pilot project with year 1 was created to give a fun focus to writing. The storyteller told a tale and then provided colourful paper, envelopes, pens and stickers for the children to write to one of the characters in the story.
The letters were then posted in the class post box and at the following session there was a reply from the 'story character' and the children's letters were presented back to them in book form! Both Anne Johnson and June Peters enjoyed working with the children and year 1 teachers of Marlborough and Bevington. The feedback has been very positive.
Reviving, Discovering and Creating Games for the Playground (Marlborough and Thomas Jones School)
Anne Johnson has been working with Marlborough and Thomas Jones School on this project (there have been more sessions with Marlborough School).
It has involved year 5 working with year 1's and year 2's, the older children helping the younger ones to skip, run obstacle courses, take part in circle games, games of tag and games like 'Please Mr Crocodile' and 'What's the Time Mr Wolf'.
Anne has a link with Glasgow University's project 'Child's Play'. This is a project aimed at improving child health through education and practising of street games in the playground and beyond.
The project is in great demand and in the summer term Servite School would like a 'sooper dooper skipping project'.
Telling and Playing with Myths and Legends (Bevington School)
This pilot project with year 5 worked with the story of Perseus. The Company of Players & Tellers brought in Apple children's Arts organisation to work alongside Anne Johnson to create costume, props and backdrops with the children.
It involved drama, games, movement, voicework, writing and finally a presentation to parents, teachers and governors. The school, the parents and the Company of Players & Tellers and Apple were delighted with its success.
Everyday Magic - The Video
The video/DVD 'Everyday Magic' funded by Westway Development Trust is now finished. It promotes the Trusts' programme of art in education carried out by the Company of Players and Tellers in the primary schools of Kensington and Chelsea. The video is not for public viewing but to be used to show funders, schools involved in the project and schools who wish to join. Many thanks to everyone who worked on the video.
The Players and Tellers are:
Anne Johnson (coordinator)
Kate Corkery
June Peters
Tuup
Kevin Graal
Michele Chowrimootoo
Inno Sorsy
Jan Blake
Jacqui Chan
Lia Prentaki
Rich Sylvester
Out and About with the Players and Tellers...
Anne has completed the National Gallery project, telling the stories of Odysseus, Perseus and Theseus for audiences in the gallery. This autumn she will be working on 'Imagine' the Children's Literature Festival at the Royal Festival Hall which will culminate in an exhibition in the ballroom of the Royal Festival Hall in Spring 2005.
Inno will be in Uzbekistan in September translating and interpreting from French into English. She is also busy working on a book for children of the Nasrudin stories. We look forward to hearing tale of her travels.
Kate along with Winston Nzinga (known together as 'Spud and Yam') are the creative force behind the very successful 'Getting On' project in Merton, South West London. Four of the schools involved have been so enthusiastic that they have got together and accessed some additional funding to continue the project.
Rich Sylvester continues to develop and run his 'Guided History Tours' of the Regents Canal, Greenwich Park and the Docklands.
We would like to welcome Lia Prentaki, the wonderful dancer who currently teaches dance one day a week at Marlborough school and who worked with Anne on the year 3 dance and story project at Colville school this term to combine hand gestures and movement with stories, action rhymes and songs.
Jacqui has been rubbing shoulders with the dancers of the Bolshoi Ballet whilst performing her story 'The Incomparable Couple of Sendai' as part of this season's new programme at the Clore Studio Upstairs, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Jan is very busy, having been made artist in residence for the Children's Literature Festival 'Imagine' at the Royal Festival Hall. She will be performing Hans Christian Anderson stories in the Purcell Room. For more information see: www.southbankcentre.org.uk CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE SOUTH BANK WEBSITE at www.southbankcentre.org.uk
June is off to Uruguay and Argentina in September and October with the 'Dream On' theatre company. We can't wait to hear more of her wonderful stories on her return.
Tuup has been everywhere playing with the very successful band 'Trans Global Express' from Mexico to Wales via Belgium. He was performing at the Storytelling Festival – The Edge. Throughout October he performed 'The Man with the Ship on his Head', the story he researched and wrote himself of Joseph Johnson and the black seamen who performed in the streets and taverns of London in the 18th Century.
Michele has written the sound track for 'The Company of Players and Tellers' video. She worked alongside Anne on a recording project at the National Gallery. The results can be heard in the National Gallery's schools exhibition.
Between mid-September and mid-October Kevin was in Greece collaborating with Artzero Children's Art, a London based visual arts organisation developing interdisciplinary arts projects for children and young people. For further information please visit www.artzero.org CLICK HERE TO www.artzero.org
On his return he will also be working on the children's literature festival 'Imagine' at the Royal Festival Hall.
Kevin will also be conducting a couple of storytelling tours at Tate Modern and working on a collaborative educational project exploring Russian music and stories with the Barbican Piano Trio.
From the schools...
Thank you for all the feedback - you all said such lovely, positive things. We've chosen excerpts from the following two:
Sharon Judge, Deputy Head teacher, Servite School:
"The feedback from all teachers has been very positive. The Company of Players and tellers have had a big impact on the whole school agenda. The storytelling has raised the level of speaking and listening and allowed children to excel in different areas. The children are being much more creative orally and have the confidence to express themselves in front of others. Listening to the storytellers use their voices and become different characters has had a cascading effect. We have seen children excel in storytelling sessions and be involved in the group, joining in with songs and rhymes. Our EAL population is growing and we are doing a lot of work on appreciating each other's cultures. The storytellers have backgrounds from all over the world and that gives our children a greater exposure to a range of genres. Elspeth, the reception teacher is passionate about the songs (Shukalaka Shake) and she sees the sessions as professional development for herself.
The 'History Detective' special project went well. The CD that Michele put together of the children's pieces along with sound effects was such a slick, professional product. It was fabulous."
Sarah Kearny, Deputy Head, Marlborough School:
"We see this as a long term liaison. We want The Company of Players & Tellers seriously on board.
The programme links in with the school development plan, the school action plan. It supports literacy, creativity, and speaking and listening. I'll do everything I can to find the money for the school's contribution. I think it's really worth it."
The eight primary schools participating in the programme are:
Barlby
Bevington
Thomas Jones
Colville
Marlborough
Servite
St. Clement & St. James
Park Walk (joined September 2004)
Keeping in touch - news from Anne:
Jonnie Beverley of Westway Development Trust and myself had very encouraging meetings with all the schools in the project at the end of last term. Thank you Sarah Kearney, Sharon Judge, Karyn Ray, Adele Stirling, Catherine Griffith, Laurie Derek and Sue Hussey for the time they gave to giving us feedback and for writing the Company of Players and Tellers' work into their school's annual development plans. I was so pleased and encouraged by everything I heard.
Park Walk joins the project this term. A big welcome to them.
Barlby and Marlborough have requested special projects connected with stories from Ancient Greece for year 5 in the spring. Marlborough has also requested a project for their year 6 in the summer term to culminate in an end of year performance. I have already booked 'Apple' for some of those dates and I am working on ideas around Theseus and the Minotaur combining story, dance and drumming. Together with Michele I am exploring the possibilities of sets made of junk that can be played - Watch this space.
I am also researching possibilities of using downloadable images form the V&A to enhance and add to the 'Conversing with the Ancestors' project, which St Clements and St. James would like again.
I expect to be introducing Janice Watson of the Clinical Medical Department of Glasgow University to schools involved in the 'Playground Games' project. She is very much looking forward to seeing the ideas and work practice.
Remember a school can help finance a special project by selling copies of the CD Shukalaka Shake (30 songs for children). Get in touch to find out more.
"Folk Tales are real. Taken all together, they offer, in their oft-repeated and constantly varying examinations of human vicissitudes, a general explanation of life preserved in the slow ripening of rustic consciences; these folk stories are the catalogue of the potential destinies of men and women, especially for that stage in life when destiny is formed, ie, youth, beginning with birth, which itself often foreshadows the future; then the departure from home, and finally, through the trials of growing up, the attainment of maturity and the proof of one’s humanity".
By Italo Calvino (Italian Folktales)
CLICK HERE TO EMAIL info@playersandtellers.co.uk
HOW THE PROGRAMME STARTED IN 2002/03
As part of this programme, two storytellers Kate Corkery and Anne Johnson with a depth of experience and skills in music, song, drama and storytelling with early years - have been running sessions with under 4s and staff at St Quintin Family Centre and Dalgarno Playgroup, funded through Sure Start, North West Kensington.
Storytelling training sessions for staff working with young children are also offered giving them the skills and materials to continue the workshops. Through ongoing sessions, children develop their imaginations, their word-skills and their confidence in speaking out. Our recent series of sessions with under 4's was part-funded by Sure Start.
The aim of a story, song and rhyme session is to give children the enjoyment of more experiences and more opportunities for expressing themselves. Through regular sessions, young children can be encouraged to develop their imaginations, their skill with words and their confidence in speaking out. Absorbing and stimulating for young children, they help develop confidence, awareness and self-expression. They also enrich experience - helping children to notice, name, describe and express the connections between themselves, others and the world.
Because they are fun and interactive and involve actions and rhymes, the sessions offer language development for all levels: for those whose first language is English and for those acquiring it; for those who are already articulate with words and for those who may be shy or withdrawn or have special needs. Because stories and songs come from around the world, the sessions can be made relevant to all, engaging with the diversity of children's backgrounds, their families and communities.
Listening to words; enjoying their sounds; discovering their meanings, variety and richness; shaping them in the mouth, playing with them and having lots to say with them - these are the activities which can help to give young children the foundation for a lifelong enthusiasm and engagement with language. For listening and speaking, for reading and writing, for pleasure, for school, for further studies and future walks of life, they are essential 'sure starts'. For more information on our storytelling programme see the Community Education and Arts section of our 2003 and 2004 Annual Reports CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AN ANNUAL REPORT
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