School praised for arts scheme

A school is working to improve the English skills of pupils who are new to the language through a project involving drama.

Carlton Bolling College in Bradford has teamed up with theatre company Freedom Studios from the city to try out new techniques to help students who are new to English, those who have it as an additional language and pupils who are below national targets.

The project involved performing arts workshops with the three different pupil groups over a six-month period.

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Two theatre directors and youth theatre leaders from Freedom Studios led the workshops, using “tried and tested performing arts techniques”.

Deborah Dickinson, creative producer at Freedom Studios said: “It was brilliant to see students develop in confidence and self-esteem, and improve their ability to concentrate and co-operate with each other.”

Simon Murray, assistant head teacher at Carlton Bolling College, said: “The project has been a wonderfully engaging and effective way of helping students with their language acquisition. It has helped them develop their use of English and we have seen how it has increased their confidence, self-esteem and attendance.

“It has also led to changes in the curriculum so the students now have access to a broad range of arts-based activities.

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The work was funded by CapeUK as part of its Arts Council England role linking schools with arts and culture.

Sarah Mumford, CapeUK’s programmes director, said the results showed the benefit of bringing different experiences to pupils who find it difficult to become involved with arts and culture.