SHAKESPEARE HOLDS KEY TO RAISING LITERACY LEVELS AND STUDENT ASPIRATION
Discover what some young fans say about the 450-year-old playwright at www.rsc.org.uk
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), which has worked with over 1 million young people over the past 10 years, has found that children - regardless of age, background or perceived ability - relish the challenge of Shakespeare’s work. Compelling evidence from teachers across the country demonstrates that the RSC’s approach to Shakespeare creates a ‘ripple effect’ which consistently improves attitudes to school and learning, raises aspirations and leads to higher levels of attainment in English.
In 2016, to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, the RSC will offer more ways into Shakespeare than ever before. Alongside initiatives like the RSC Dream Team 2016, the company will work with major cultural providers and teachers to inspire more young people through Shakespeare.
Highlights include:
- BBC Live Lessons: The BBC and the RSC have teamed up to host the first ever live Shakespeare lessons, one for primary, Shakespeare Unplugged and one for secondary schools, The Text Detectives. The lessons feature RSC actors and a live studio audience of school children as well as interactive opportunities for the viewing audience in classrooms to take part. Our secondary school live lesson introduces students to the kinds of clues we can look for in Shakespeare’s language to help unlock meaning.
- BBC Bitesize: In March the RSC and BBC Learning launch a new interactive game for BBC Bitesize which introduces 7 – 11 year olds to a character from each of Shakespeare’s 37 plays. The game encourages the children to answer different questions based on the kinds of character traits they are interested in; ultimately their choices lead them to a specific character from the one of the plays.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/education
- Teaching Shakespeare: The RSC has joined forces with the Times Educational Supplement (TES), V&A, British Museum, BFI and Into Film to launch a new digital portal where over 400 Shakespeare educational resources for the classroom have been curated into a single free online collection for the very first time.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-shakespeare/
- RSC Dream Team 2016: Every school in the country is invited to join the RSC’s ‘Dream Team’ in 2016. Based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream whether you make your own Bottom’s donkey ears or Titania’s fairy wings to wear to school on Midsummer’s Day, transform your classroom into an athenean wood or stage an abridged version of Shakespeare’s best loved comedy, any school can take part in any way they like – big or small. Once registered, schools have free access to:
- 60 and 30 minute edited scripts of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for use by secondary, primary and special schools
- A specially-composed full musical score suitable for all ages and abilities
- A range of other supporting resources including expert step-by-step guidance on directing, casting and staging the play in school.
http://www.dream2016.org.uk/education
- RSC Playmaking Festival: From Monday 27 June until Friday 8 July and as part of our Dream Team 2016 celebrations, the RSC will hold its first schools’ Playmaking Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon. Schools will join the RSC in its hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate Shakespeare’s legacy and young people’s work through student performance, street theatre, workshops and exhibitions. http://www.dream2016.org.uk/education/playmaking-festival/
- RSC Schools’ Broadcasts: On 17 March and 21 April, the RSC will continue to stream its latest productions - Othello and The Merchant of Venice directly into classrooms up and down the country and then answer student’s questions as part of a live Q&A with members of the acting company and creative teams. http://www.rsc.org.uk/education/schools-broadcasts
- Whose Culture? Celebrating 10 years of the RSC Learning and Performance Network (the RSC’s partnership programme with schools and regional theatres involving 10 regional theatre partners, 450 schools and over 1 million children and young people), the RSC hosts a special symposium on 5 July 2016 exploring what it really takes to unlock Shakespeare in primary and secondary schools. Guest speakers are expected to include The Rt Hon Nicky Morgan (subject to parliamentary business).
Jacqui O’Hanlon, RSC Director of Education, said,
“We have consistently found that giving children access to some of the greatest words ever written has a significant impact on their own reading and writing. We know from primary and secondary school teachers that introducing Shakespeare's work in their classrooms raises the aspirations and achievements of children of all ages and abilities. In the year in which we mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death this is a timely reminder of the legacy he left behind; an extraordinary inheritance that really does belong to everyone.
“Shakespeare understood perhaps better than any the power that language has to persuade, influence and ultimately shape the world in which we live. That power is available to everyone and the earlier we are introduced to it the more it becomes an integral part of our lives. 2016 provides a unique opportunity to help more children feel like the six year old who told us with complete conviction that she can no longer imagine a world without Shakespeare.”
Information about Dream Team 2016 and all the ways that schools can access Shakespeare’s work can be found at www.rsc.org.uk/education and www.dream16.org.uk/education
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For further information please contact Jo Hammond at jo.hammond@rsc.org.uk or on 07739 330294.
Notes to Editors:
Teaching Shakespeare: Teaching Shakespeare is the second project to have emerged from a cultural pilot, which was launched by Ed Vaizey, Minister of Culture and the Digital Economy, together with the Arts Council England to help put the arts at the heart of the classroom and also support the teaching of the core curriculum with a variety of world-class cultural and digital materials. The pilot has been designed to increase the quality and usefulness of cultural resources in schools. It will test directly the impact they make in the classroom through data and dialogue with teachers.
Each participating organisation has been focused on a key area. The British Museum has an acclaimed object-based approach to teaching and learning and focuses on history from many perspectives; the Royal Shakespeare Company excels in theatre and performance-based explorations of Shakespeare texts and has highly regarded professional development resources for teachers; and the V&A specialises in art, design and many aspects of technology, with materials that act as ‘rocket fuel’ for illustrating creative processes and practice.
https://www.tes.com/teaching-shakespeare/
BBC Learning
BBC Learning plays a central part in meeting the BBC's purpose of promoting education and learning. Utilising the power of the BBC’s big brands and key talent, the department puts learning right at the heart of the BBC and provides a variety of resources and learning opportunities for children, teachers, parents and adult learners. Working with partners and in local communities, BBC Learning aims to stimulate interests and encourage engagement through a variety of campaigns across all BBC genres and platforms.
About RSC Education
The Royal Shakespeare Company creates theatre at its best, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world. Everyone at the RSC - from actors to armourers, musicians to technicians - plays a part in creating the world you see on stage.
We encourage everyone to enjoy a lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and live theatre and through our Education work transform experiences of Shakespeare for children and young people. Our approach is rooted in a 130 year history of making theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon and sharing that wealth of skills and knowledge with teachers and students all over the world. We build long term relationships with school, teachers and communities and particularly those who have the least access to Shakespeare, the RSC and cultural provision. In 2013 we became the first UK theatre to broadcast its productions directly into schools and classrooms up and down the country. We work in over 14 countries world-wide and with around 530,000 young people every year. www.rsc.org.uk/education
