From tragedy to triumph - a masterclass in drama in the classroom

Monday, 13 February 2012

pupils enact the drama of being stranded by the floods

Children and staff at Geoffrey Field Junior School were pleased to get a little more than they expected when they asked Dr Andy Kempe from the Institute of Education if he could find an interesting way to launch their topic for the term, Natural Disasters.

Andy had recently worked with newly qualified teachers from this school and others in the Whitley Excellence Cluster on effective use of the voice and enhancing learning through classroom talk.

Rather than simply talking to the beginning teachers about successful strategies though he invited them to join him in putting the strategies to the test with a Yr 6 class. As a result, class teacher Kelly Bunker, a graduate of Reading's BAEd course herself, asked Andy if he could think of an exciting way to start their next project.

With the help of four students on the Theatre Arts Education and Deaf Studies course, and Institute of Education colleagues Dr Les James and Daphne Payne, Andy constructed a morning long workshop focusing on the floods that devastated the east coast of England on 31 January 1953. 125 Yr 5 and Yr 6 children moved into the drama by adopting the role of volunteer relief workers.

Dr James, working in role as a period weather forecaster with authentic instruments and charts, explained the worsening weather conditions to them. Then, drawing on historic documents and images (many from MERL) the children imagined how they would have fought their way through the storm in order to set up an emergency centre in a primary school in the small Essex town of Benfleet.

The real drama was yet to come however! Following a break the children returned to their classrooms only to discover distressed and dishevelled characters huddled there who told them about the terrible ordeal they'd had in the flood and how they were eventually rescued from Canvey Island.

One class had an extra challenge but a special treat also. Daphne Payne, who is herself profoundly deaf, created a deaf character who had had a particularly difficult time being rescued not least because potential rescuers refused to take her specially trained ‘hearing' dog.

The treat of course was that Daphne, dressed in pyjamas and blanket, had actually taken her dog Goldie with her to the school.

Andy is a volunteer on Thames Valley Police's officer training programme and took this opportunity to invite other TVP volunteers to join this project.

With the Institute of Education's recent move into the heart of Reading, Andy is hoping to forge even stronger links with local schools and the community as a whole. He said, "the Geoffrey Field project is an example of exactly what the IoE should be doing. We are in an ideal position to bring a wide variety of agencies together and by applying our expertise make learning a hugely enjoyable and creative experience for everyone in and around Reading. Teacher training programmes such as ours are being devastated by government cuts but by working in an even closer partnership with our schools and the community I believe we have both the skill and the will to ensure that education triumphs."

Andy and Daphne were delighted to receive a bundle of thank you letters following the event which gave testimony to the power of working in this way. One child wrote:

"My favourite part of the morning was learning through drama. It was an extraordinary change. Having you and Goldie in taught us about the friendship between humans and dogs. Everyone could see the friendship between you and Goldie and that's what everyone should be like with their pets. Your acting skills helped our acting skills as you were like a professional. All the class were believing you and even though it was all those years ago I nearly started to cry. Thank you (and Goldie) for coming in. We felt privileged and rather special."