All the world's a stage

What have I done? What on Earth made me think this was a good idea?

With our lovely Family Liaison Officer, Rebecca, at the wheel, we approached a brightly-lit building which seemed to tower over Canterbury. I had a wave of nausea and had to open the window. 

Rewind a year. One of my Governors made a passing comment that there was an associate schools programme with the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Marlow Theatre, and maybe this would benefit our pupils.

The idea of this totally threw me. I was busy working with the staff to build a school from the ground up. Looking closely at the fundamentals, the things that really ‘counted’ - reading, writing and maths - as well as ensuring that we had a robust behaviour policy, while trying to firefight the school's damned reputation and attempting to retain the families that were leaving in droves. Shakespeare really was at the bottom of the list.

But the Governor persisted. It would be a great experience. It would really raise aspirations and give the children an amazing experience, so why wouldn’t I want to do it?

And to be honest, I was reluctant for many reasons. I don’t ever want these children to feel they were being set up to fail; they had been failed on so many levels already. I wanted to play safe, secure and within my comfort zone and thought that this was the ‘right’ thing to do. Then I started looking at the wider curriculum. Previously, it came out of a box - a set of ‘creative’ topic-based schemes of work. It was easy, activity-based and with the high turnover of staff, it really suited the needs of our school. But, goodness, it was rubbish. It had to change, and sharpish. (I’ll write something in more depth one day!)

But the arts had a big gaping hole and actually, growing up, it was one of the only things that ever brought me pleasure. Learning the piano, the cello and being part of a drama group was my saviour in some pretty dark times. If we could offer that to some of our children, then really, we should just take the plunge. I wasn’t from a privileged background, I was a latchkey kid with parents that wanted us to just ‘have a bash’ at stuff that they didn’t get the chance to. If we liked it, we carried on, and if we didn’t, we weren’t berated. Simple, really.

"These children would be great on the stage!" said Ellie, the Director Mentor for Romeo and Juliet, with utter glee. The class teacher glanced over and could see the fear on my face. The children, all amazing individuals, had never done anything like this and the panic washed over me again.  The pupils absolutely jumped at the chance, half having absolutely no idea who Shakespeare was, the other half just liked the fact they had been chosen for something ‘special’. 

…and there we were. 

I was hyperventilating in the car, swearing profusely and thinking that I was the worst Head of School in the world.

Later that evening, there they were, performing Romeo and Juliet, in front of 1000 people. 

Word perfect. Beautiful. Confident.  Making me the proudest person on the planet.

Never underestimate children. They will never let you down.

You raise the bar and they’ll be there, one step ahead, waiting for the next challenge.