Institute of Education stages day of drama for local schoolchildren
Monday, 25 March 2013
Pupils from South Lake primary school enjoying a Samba Sensations workshop
'One child said to me at the end of the day: ÔÇÿwow, haven't we been lucky!'. Can't say more than that!'
Over 200 pupils from local primary and secondary schools recently enjoyed a day of art education and entertainment for the second ‘Fridayfest' at the Institute of Education.
Hosted by Professor Andy Kempe, Professor in Drama Education, the primary school pupils from Alfred Sutton, South Lake and George Palmer took part in practical workshops led by University lecturers in dance, creating scripts and using ICT to enhance creative writing.
The pupils also enjoyed a workshop with author Martin King and Samba Sensations with Readipop. At lunchtime, RUSU's Circus Skills Society and ‘Sign along with Music' group Decibels provided further entertainment and a chance to learn something new.
Later in the day, members of Reading University Drama Society and the current PGCE Drama group offered a series of ‘masterclasses' to GCSE and A Level Theatre Arts students.
Professor Andy Kempe said: "Having 200 children and young people come to the Institute of Education for a day full of enjoyable learning was certainly something of an antidote to what seems like an endless winter. We may not have had the spring sunshine I was hoping for but there was no shortage of warmth and smiley faces.
"I'm particularly grateful to the Circus Skills Society who justly deserved huge applause for entertaining the children while they had their lunch. We hope we will be able to build on the success of Fridayfest in the summer with further events."
Professor Kempe has already received some positive feedback from a number of teachers who brought their pupils along to Fridayfest:
"Thank you for a really great day at the University of Reading. We really enjoyed the workshops, the experience of visiting the University and excellent organisation of the day."
"The organisation was excellent and feedback was great, the children just loved the whole thing. As one child said to me at the end of the day: ‘wow, haven't we been lucky!'. Can't say more than that!"