We have been preparing for it for ages and now it is finally here! The theme this week is “We’re Better without Bullying” and we couldn’t agree more with that sentiment. Anti-bullying week runs this week and we will be delivering a variety of different anti-bullying drama workshops in primary schools and high schools across the country.
 The Kingdom of Awesomeness! We have Kingdom of Respect Workshops, Happy, Safe and Confident Forum Theatre Workshops, an out of this world Alien Awareness Anti -Bullying Workshop and a magical Fairytale Anti – Bullying Workshop.
 The Kingdom of Unity We thought we would share with you just some of the great art work that pupils have already done in our Kingdom of Respect Workshops over the last few days.
 The Land of Smiles, Love and Friendship
My favourite saying so far this week from a very wise Yr 4 pupil has been “It’s never too late to say you’re sorry”. Fantastic. Keep up the good work guys and we will be showing you more great work over the next few weeks. Remember – we really are better without bullying!
Anti Bullying Awareness Week 2012 runs from the 19th – 23rd November and the theme is:
“We’re better without bullying”.
This year, Act On Info Theatre in Education Company are offering two different drama workshop options for your school.
1. Happy, Safe and Confident Drama Workshop
Our anti-bullying workshop for KS1 and KS2 aims to raise awareness of bullying and its effects. We use forum theatre techniques to explore the roles of bully, victim and bystander, how bullying makes us feel, and how we can deal with it by developing assertiveness and coping strategies.
This workshop is for one class (approx 30 children) lasts for 45 minutes and requires the use of a school hall or gymnasium. Maximum of four workshops in a day.
Cost (Inclusive of VAT):
- Half Day: £390
- Full Day: £550
“I would recommend Act on Info to any school considering it and I will definitely use the company again.”
Yr 5 Teacher, Pebsham CP School
2. Kingdom of Respect Drama Day.
Throughout the day our drama practitioner works with one class at a time to create a drama or story about Respect. When the class is not working with the practitioner, they work to create their own “Kingdom of Respect”. This includes having ten rules of respect to live by, designing a flag, writing a myth or legend, creating a Respect rap or national anthem and much more. At the end of the school day all of the classes come together to show their play and introduce their Kingdom of Respect to an invited audience, including parents.
This workshop is for a maximum of four classes throughout the school day and requires the use of the school hall or gymnasium.
Cost (Inclusive of VAT):
- One day (Four classes) – £280
- Two Days (Eight classes) – £500
- Three Days (Twelve classes) – £650
“A very enjoyable day and valuable learning experience.” KS2 Manager, Harrowden Middle School
For more details see our anti-bullying workshops for KS1 and KS2
 This week had someone asking us if forum theatre meant we had to perform our drama workshops in a forum theatre space, so we thought we would try and explain some of the terms thats we take for granted which other people may not know the meaning of.
Forum theatre was created by the innovative and influential practitioner Augusto Boal as part of his “Theatre of the Oppressed.” Originally the technique was developed by Boal as a tool for political change but since then it has been widely adapted and used in educational and training contexts.
A scene is shown, usually containing some kind of oppression, for example Act On Info would show a scene during an anti-bullying drama workshop showing someone being bullied or an adult training session showing bad practise at work. We would show this scene twice. During the replay, with we ask the audience to put up their hands when they see behaviour that they do not agree with and the facilitator would shout stop. The actors freeze at this point, we describe it like pressing pause on a DVD. We use these freezes to take a deeper look at what is going on in the scene, the facial expressions, body language and emotions of the characters in the scene.
The facilitator would then ask for suggestions as to how the audience would change the characters behaviour, and invite the audience to volunteer to take the role of the characters to see how effective their suggestions are. Different suggestions can be tried out by different volunteers showing how they could change the situation to create a different outcome. This way of working breaks down barriers between the audience and the situation – it puts them directly in the action and enables them to try out alternate ways of behaving in a safe environment that they can then apply to their own lives or work. This is why it is such an effective learning tool.
We use forum theatre in many of our drama workshops for more details click here.
 We already have bookings from very organised teachers (We wish we were as organised as that!) wanting our services for 2012’s anti- bullying week so this is just a quick reminder for you to get in quick!
The theme for anti-bullying week this year is “We’re better without bullying” which is a great theme to get your pupils thinking about why your school is a better place without bullying. As all schools are different we offer a number of different anti-bullying drama workshops for you, and hope that one of these workshops will meet your needs.
1. Anti-Bullying Play in a Day – Our Play in a Day is a great way to introduce or conclude a topic, to promote inclusion and help with revision. Play in a Day is suitable for KS2; the facilitator can work with one class at a time (Up to approx 35 children). The class works with a facilitator starting at the beginning of the school day, and working around your break and lunch times for the day, perform the play for an invited audience of their peers (and parents should you wish to invite them) at the end of the day. The play performed is a 10-15 minute ensemble piece using inventive theatre techniques such as choral speech, stylised movement and mime. This usually takes place at either 2.30pm or 2.45pm.
2. Anti – Bullying Forum Theatre Workshop – Our Happy, Safe and Confident workshops for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 pupils aims to raise awareness of bullying and its effects, by using forum theatre techniques to explore the roles of bully, victim and bystander, how bullying makes us feel, and how we can deal with it by developing assertiveness and coping strategies. The workshops for KS 1 and 2 is for one class at a time and for KS3 a maximum of two classes at a time. Workshops last for 30 minutes – 1 hour 15 mins (dependent on age group) and require the use of a school hall or gymnasium. We can do up to a maximum of four workshops in one day.
This workshop can be run in conjunction with our parent project which is very helpful for schools wanting to present a united front against bullying by getting parents and teachers on the same page when educating their children about bullying and can be used to creat a new anti-bullying policy in your school. Ask us for more details.
3. Respect Drama Day – Our Kingdom of Respect Day is suitable for KS 1 and 2 we work with 3 or 4 classes throughout the day. Each class works with a drama facilitator for 45 minutes – 1 hour to produce a short play/presentation on the theme of anti bullying. When they are not working with the facilitator they are working with their class to create their own “Kingdom of Respect”. This includes having a name for their Kingdom and ten rules to live by as well as various arts and crafts activities for the whole school to enjoy. The classes present their work to the other classes and any other audience including parents you would like to invite at the end of the day. The schedule for the day is dependent on your timetable.
All of our workshops this year will be tailored to fit in with the theme for 2012, or if required we can make a bespoke workshop just for you. Please get in touch if you would like more information and costs for each drama workshop. There is a discount for two or more days booked together. Enjoy the rest of your holidays!
 We have had a very interesting half term so far working on our anti-bullying drama workshop projects. One such project is reviving our whole school community anti-bullying project. We were approached for help by a primary school under special measures after their OFSTED report showed that bullying was an issue in the school. The pupils were surveyed and these were some of the things that the children wanted:
- More lessons about bullying
- Having older buddies to talk to
- Parents/carers knowing how to stop bullying
- Having clearer rules
Cue Act On Info. We spent some time in the school working with the each and every class on our Happy, Safe and Confident anti-bullying workshops, which parents were invited to come and watch but not participate in. This workshop aims to raise awareness of bullying and its effects, by using forum theatre techniques to explore the roles of bully, victim and bystander, how bullying makes us feel, and how we can deal with it by developing assertiveness and coping strategies.
We then ran a workshop for parents and staff at the school to come to a unified approach on how to tackle bullying. We worked on how to prevent bullying and some practical ideas of what they can do if there is a problem. All this work will go on to inform the new anti-bullying policy that the school is now working on. We wish them well in their improvements to the school.
If you would like us to help your school tackle bullying please feel free to contact us via the booking form or give us a ring to discuss your requirements.
For more details on our anti-bullying drama workshop options please click here.
 Watch out for brussel sprouts! What an amazing week we had in schools during anti-bullying week last week and thanks to all the pupils, teachers and facilitators who worked so hard to make the days a success. Our Kingdom of Respect drama days were and still are being held in primary schools up and down the country.
We thought it would be nice to share with you some of the excellent work that has been created by the pupils.Some of the Kingdoms created by St Peters Primary School in Bolton included Yr 6′s Respecterton S.P whereby everybody had to earn respect points by behaving according to the rules. We had a national anthem played on brass instruments, a Peace in the World rap/dance and the Kingdom included all kinds of interesting places including the jail where if you didn’t respect people you were force fed brussel sprouts and broccoli and made to sit on the uncomfortable chair – the horror!
From Year 5 we had the imaginative Bullyneverland where the French professor, Professor Bulliance made three robots – Cyber, Physical
 Respect today - keep the robots at bay! andCyber, Physical and Verbal RobotsVerbal Robots -to keep the bullies in check, the robots would freeze anybody who was bullying and their slogan was - “Respect today, keep the robots at bay!”
 Only the brightest stars.... We also had from Year 3 the fabulous –Starworld “Only the brightest stars shine in Starworld.”
 The tree of flags  Yr 2's amazing Kingdom From Year 4 the fabulous Kingdom of Care and Share.
From Year 2 Rainbow Kingdom where “Niceness is Priceless”
Yr 1 told us to “Keep in mind, always be kind”.
Not to be outdone the reception class came up with Chameleon Kingdom where everyone is different and that’s ok. Reception showed us their skills on the computer by making pictures of their friends!
 Receptions friendly faces  Thanks St Peter's! Thanks, St Peters for making us have such a rianbow coloured and robot shaped week, for making us so welcome and joining in the spirit of the Drama Days so beautifully. Keep your eyes peeled for more school photos later in the week!
We can’t believe its half term already! Where has the time gone? We have spent it in schools doing drama workshops and assemblies on everything from Space Exploration to Telling the Truth, with various characters from Harry Potter to King Arthur!
Half term is a fantastic time for us to take a big deep breath and prepare for anti-bullying week in November. This year we will be delivering drama workshops in schools in many different guises. We have anti-bullying and resisting peer pressure forum theatre workshops, Kingdom of Respect Days and Play in a Day’s happening in primary and high schools across the country. Also we are really looking forward to our work in Peterborough Schools on their fantastic Powerdown fortnight project, with the slogan “Switch Off and Save”. This project is all about increasing pupils and staffs energy awareness and we will be providing a whole school assemblies and drama workshops for schools in the Peterborough area. This is a vitally important issue as schools account for a large proportion of a local council’s carbon emissions, we need to educate future generations into caring about environmental issues and making them see that by everyone doing a little it can make a big difference.
We are now taking bookings for next term – and as well as our existing drama workshops we are further developing our History Drama Days and also promoting reading and writing in schools through our Literacy Drama Workshops. Have a look at the website and do get in touch if you think we can help your school. We look forward to meeting you!
 Role Play As young people grow older, they are faced with some challenging decisions, some are simple but some involve serious moral questions. Its human nature for them to listen to other people in their age group, and peers influence their life, even if they don’t realize it, and is all peer pressure bad?
Positive peer pressure can happen – for example, if one student is excited about their new favorite book, and gets everyone into reading it. However, quite often peers influence each other in negative ways, young people want to do what they know is right but they don’t want to be the one who stands out. Or they simply want to try something that “everybody else” is doing.
So how you work with your class on the topic of peer pressure using drama?
Role Play
Role playing can be a really useful classroom activity, allowing students to understand the effects of peer pressure and can lead into to a great group discussion on the topic.
- Divide the classroom into smaller groups of up to 5.
- Either ask them to think of an incident of peer pressure or give them cards with prompt words on.
- Ask for volunteers in each group to act out their scenarios. Then give them a short amount of time to rehearse. (5 minutes is plenty)
- Ask them to show their scenarios to the rest of the group.
- Have a group discussion on each scenario about what was going on, who was pressuring who, was it positive or negative pressure. Ask them what were their reactions and feelings about the scenario, how would they react if it was happening to them?
- If you have a good group who you think are able to work well, try hot seating, allow the characters to be questioned by their classmates about why they behaved the way they did, and what their feelings were.
- After the role-playing, return to the normal classroom format and open it up to a general discussion on the effects of peer pressure.
P.S. Don’t forget its anti-bullying week on the 14th – 18thNovember, so get in touch if you would like us to help you with an anti-bullying drama workshop!
 - Stop and think – words can hurt
Yes, we know it seems a long way away at the moment as you have just started on your summer holidays, but we already have bookings from much organised teachers wanting our services for 2011’s anti- bullying week so this is just a reminder for you to get in quick!
The theme for anti-bullying week this year is “Stop and think – words can hurt” which ties in nicely to what we can offer schools for anti-bullying week. As all schools are different we offer a number of different options for you, and hope that one of these workshops will meet your needs.
1. Anti-Bullying Play in a Day – This is a great way to introduce or conclude a topic, to promote inclusion and help with revision. Play in a Day is suitable for KS2; the facilitator can work with one class at a time (Up to approx 35 children). The class works with a facilitator starting at the beginning of the school day, and working around your break and lunch times for the day, perform the play for an invited audience of their peers (and parents should you wish to invite them) at the end of the day. The play performed is a 10-15 minute ensemble piece using inventive theatre techniques such as choral speech, stylised movement and mime. This usually takes place at either 2.30pm or 2.45pm.
2. Anti – Bullying Forum Theatre Workshop - Our Happy, Safe and Confident Workshops for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 pupils aims to raise awareness of bullying and its effects, by using forum theatre techniques to explore the roles of bully, victim and bystander, how bullying makes us feel, and how we can deal with it by developing assertiveness and coping strategies. The workshops for KS 1 and 2 is for one class at a time and for KS3 a maximum of two classes at a time. Workshops last for 30 minutes – 1 hour 15 mins (dependent on age group) and require the use of a school hall or gymnasium. We can do up to a maximum of four workshops in one day.
3. Respect Drama Day – Suitable for KS 1 and 2 we work with 3 or 4 classes throughout the day, each class works with a drama facilitator for 45 minutes – 1 hour to produce a short play/presentation on the theme of anti bullying. When they are not working with the facilitator they are working with their class to create their “Kingdom of Respect”. This includes having a name for their Kingdom and ten rules to live by amongst other things. The classes present their work to the other classes and any other audience you would like to invite at the end of the day. The schedule for the day is dependent on your timetable.
Please get in touch if you would like more information and costs for each drama workshop. There is a discount for two or more days booked together. Enjoy your holidays everyone!
This week we have mainly been thinking about the issue of Friendship. Here are some games that you can play with your KS 1 or 2 classes:
 Friendship Games Musical Friends
A friendly version of musical chairs – and everyone wins! Play musical chairs as usual, but when the music stops, instead of taking away a chair and getting a child has to sit out, just take away a chair. By the end of the game, the whole class has to cooperate to fit everyone on one chair. Children love this game!
I like friends who……
Arrange the class in a circle. One after the other they say “I like friends who…” then give their answer. On the first round they are allowed repetitions. One the second go they all have to say something different. On the third go they have to add an action to go with their statement.
I’m Your Friend
The pupils sit together on the floor. One pupil sits in a chair with their back to the group, eyes should closed and their hands covering eyes. The facilitator/teacher points at one of the group and that person tiptoes up to the chair, taps the child sitting in it on the back, and in a disguised or funny voice says, “Do you know me? I’m your friend.” The mystery child then rejoins the group and the guessing begins! The child in the chair uncovers his/her eyes,turns around, and tries to guess the name of the friend who tapped and talked. After three guesses, a new child takes the chair and gets a turn.
Human Knot
Form groups – this works best with groups of 6 to 10 members. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a circle, facing each other. The first group member reach across the circle with one hand and take the hand of another group member (not be the person next to them). That person then takes someone else’s hand and so on until they are all holding hands.
Ask them to try and untangle the human knot! They can duck under each other’s arms, squat down while someone steps over their arm. Get them to move slowly, one person at a time. Ask them to talk to each other and work together. Some members may end up facing outward instead of inward and that is allowed. Try it a second time and see if they can untangle faster than the first.
This is great for teaching them to work together as a team.
Guess Who?
The teacher/facilitator begins by describing one of the children in the class. When the children think they know who has been described, they raise their hands. The teacher selects someone, who makes a guess. If the child guesses correctly, he or she will get to describe the next person. The easy version of this game is to just describe the person’s clothes, the harder version is to just describe positively what they are good at and all the things you like about this person.
We hope our drama games are useful for you, if you would like us to come and do a friendship drama day for your school, please get in touch.
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Saturday, May 25, 1:21 am
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