Ormiston Bushfield Academy, Lead Associate School in Peterborough, is set to host four performances of our First Encounters: King Lear production. To mark the visit, we reflect on what first inspired them to work with the RSC.
Ormiston Bushfield Academy (OBA) is a bustling, mixed secondary school in Peterborough serving a diverse community. Its commitment to nurturing the ‘whole pupil’ is reflected in a rich culture of opportunity, an extensive extra-curricular offer and numerous creative, sporting and academic achievements.
Lead Drama Teacher, Duncan McMillan, first heard about our Associate Schools Programme in 2021 when an email inviting him to a taster session led by an RSC Associate School in Suffolk, landed in his inbox. Struck by the synergies between the programme and OBA's own ethos of opportunity, belief and aspiration, he and English teacher, Jasmin Paul, signed up.
By the end of that first session, they were hooked.
Over the course of the hour and forty-five minute drive home, they talked non-stop about what they’d learnt. Any anxiety about teaching Shakespeare evaporated. This was a new way into learning: one that puts students in the driving seat and opens up a new world of joint discovery.
Back at OBA, they re-ran each professional development session for colleagues. Soon they were inundated with requests to book the drama studio by staff who’d seen the impact of the work and wanted to put their new skills into practice.
Fast forward to 2025 and RSC approaches are an integral part of the outstanding education on offer at OBA. Finding groups of enthusiastic pupils reciting lines from Macbeth or spilling out into corridors to act out scenes, as part of everyday English lessons, is par for the course.
The effect on pupils’ oracy skills and confidence, as well as their ability to articulate ideas and opinions, Duncan says, has far exceeded their original expectations.
For staff, the programme offers both professional development and professional renewal. Duncan, a teacher for many years, describes a renewed enthusiasm for Shakespeare and teaching, underpinned by a morale-boosting culture amongst OBA staff and with other, like-minded peers in other Associate Schools across the country.
In 2023, OBA fast-tracked its training to become an RSC Lead Associate School, quickly establishing its own cluster of ten local primary and secondary Associate Schools. As well as deepening the partnership with the RSC, the school’s leadership role has helped forge important community links and foster a deep sense of local civic pride and belonging.
Seven years on from that first email and rehearsal room approaches are part of everyday life and learning at OBA. For teachers, it provides a framework for development, collaboration and inspiration and for students it’s a dynamic way into learning that grows confidence, creativity and core skills that will endure long after their time at OBA is up.
