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Science and Drama 2There was quite a mixture of schools at the Newcastle workshop. Some were local, some had travelled from Teesside, bt others had come from further afield. One school, in fact, was from Rotherham. There was the usual clustering in school groups at the beginning, with all the kids looking at each other suspiciously, something which was exacerbated by the wide range of ages. The Trust had said that only years 7 to 11 could attend (11 to 16), and, whilst I had taken Year 11, others had mixed the age groups, while some had taken younger groups. Even my quite mature year elevens looked a bit helpless when, right at the start, Elaine (Head of Science) and I were taken away from them! However by the time we got back, they were much more relaxed. They had had a good time in the warm-up and had been forced to mingle with the others, so the rather frigid atmosphere had vanished. It was the same with the staff. One of the organisers had set the tone very well and we vere very soon relaxed and having a really good laugh over some of the interesting ideas we dreamed up to answer the "Have I Got..." questions. The suggestions even got quite rude at one point! I have to say, though, that for me the discussion/impro groups were the highlight of the day. I chose to join the mental health group (my kids thought this most appropriate!) and I was most impressed by the ideas that came out of the discussion and some of the improvised work. It certainly set me thinking. Contrary to popular opinion, teachers aren't domineering in this situation and we kept very quiet, giving the kids the chance to have their say and only putting in our thoughts when the kids dried up - which was not often! Lunch was... well, lunch. Why do caterers think everyone likes salad? Why do they put lettuce and tomato in everything? It's a god job there wasn't a dessert - they'd have put the bloody stuff in that too! Most of the afternoon was a bit of a let-down for the staff. The business meeting was short and we were at a loose end until the final session. Most of us kept away from our kids, knowing that non-intervention would have been difficult! After all, here the school was on show. The final session was interesting. The groups had been given three topics around which to create their performances (my clever-clogs bunch decided to work all three topics into theirs!) and there was quite a range of performance styles - but why, of why, is there always one group which does a Jerry Springer talk show? It even makes the Sun look intellectual! The kids (and the staff, I think) got a lot out of the day, but unfortunately we won't be able to take it any further: our regional festival is the day our main production opens. That's sad, for my imagination had really been working and I had this picture of our performance starting with a rendition of Only Ewe from Dolly Merino and the Clonettes! Ah well, I'm sure I'll work it in somewhere else. Articles Indices: |