Autumn term has been a rather exciting one for Bigfoot North East and Yorkshire as they launched in the North West, transforming themselves into the much catchier, Bigfoot North.
Lydia and Ceri delivered their first programmes at Peel Hall Primary for Black History Month receiving rave reviews from the teachers:
Children were engaged, it exceeded my expectations. I really recommend it!’
Swarland Primary in Northumberland invited us to deliver an exciting bespoke CPD project based around the Creative Habits of Mind framework. Hannah developed story telling sessions inspired by The Magic Paintbrush book for Reception & KS1 and Greek Gods workshops delivered through a Mantle of the Expert approach for KS2. The sessions allowed the teachers to see how drama can be used as a tool to encourage inquisitive learning and the children really enjoyed the sessions…Hannah had a great time too!
We were honoured to be invited to deliver a workshop day on the Third Year Performance Module at Sunderland University this October. The session introduced Bigfoot as a company before exploring facilitation and devising techniques with the aim of encouraging the students to create Children’s Theatre for their final performance piece. It was very different working with older students but a lovely change from the norm and we definitely hope to return.
This year’s theme for Antibullying Week was ‘Reach Out,’ so we used this as an opportunity to deliver a film-making programme. We worked with 5 classes over the course of the day to make a music video using a song that was all about reaching out and helping others. This created some fantastic discussion and opportunities for drama and the finished films all looked fab. Langley Moor Primary in Durham said ‘A great way to develop an understanding of bullying, it’s effects, the role of a bystander and how simple it is to reach out and show kindness.’
Over the past year Grange Lane Infant School in Doncaster have been using Bigfoot to deliver bespoke literacy days. These act as a hook to engage the learning on given topics and stories they are focussing on in class. The school felt that the creative vocabulary used in the sessions enhanced the children’s writing afterwards. Always so rewarding to hear. We just love visiting our friends at Grange Lane!
Finally, we are super excited to see our Christmas shows out on the road, with 3 Clumsiest Christmas Elves performing for EYFS and 2 Dip and Dab tours visiting schools all over the region. Rachel has been beavering away, writing and developing the hilarious two hander since Easter and is over the moon to be back in schools spreading Christmas magic after two years of upheaval!