After a highly success matinee performance of Lower School’s Beauty and the Beast that welcomed 252 students and staff from 7 local primary schools, our three drama scholars accompanied Head of Drama, Mrs Grandi to lead a follow-up drama workshop at both Thomas Reade and St Edmunds schools in Abingdon.
The workshops were designed to give students the opportunity to explore some of the props and characters from the show and to learn some acting and characterisation methods. Lower Sixth drama scholars from St Helen’s were wonderful at leading the workshops and built a rapport very quickly with the children in their respective groups.
During the workshops, students were eagerly led through a series of introductory drama games before trying out freeze frame and mirroring techniques. It was very apparent that many of the students found it engaging and very helpful to have a Sixth Form student to help lead them in their work. The workshops finished with dramatic mini performances based on the wolves’ scenes from the Beauty and the Beast, and the students performed with great expression and confidence.
Our Head of Drama reflected on the workshops, saying: ‘As a drama practitioner, it was an absolute joy to see not only the skill of our own students, but the rapport they built with the primary school students. Every single child in both schools responded positively with engagement in some measure and many of them were highly engaged. It was particularly pleasing to hear from their teachers that this work was engaging for a number of students who often struggle to access the curriculum on a day-to-day basis.’
