Opportunities to teach reading creatively across the curriculum should be embraced where possible. At our school, one such opportunity has been found via the Royal Opera House’s Create & Dance programme. Launched in 2015, Create & Dance is a creative learning programme for key stage 1, 2, and 3 teachers that supports an inclusive approach to teaching dance and story-telling.
Part of the Royal Opera House’s free online Schools Site, the programme aims to “develop children’s understanding of dance and the wider curriculum, inspiring their creativity”. Usefully, teachers do not need previous dance knowledge to take part!
Support for the non-specialist
Teachers can attend practical training with the Royal Opera House at various hosting schools throughout the country where they can learn about the fundamental skills, language and building blocks of dance: actions, body, space, dynamics, and relationships.
The training, combining practical aspects as well as the theory underpinning teaching approaches, is delivered in such a way that non-specialists can find it accessible and can disseminate or lead this work within their settings. Teachers can then tailor the resources according to the ambitions of their school. These include:
- Online workshops connecting children to Royal Ballet dancers, exploring story-telling through movement.
- Lessons and teaching resources tailored to pupils across key stages 1 and 2 as well as for pupils with SEN.
- Participation events (online or in-person) for pupils to create and learn together.
This can be delivered as a half-term project with as many classes as required. Teachers choose how many lessons they would like to focus on and lessons can be delivered through discrete dance sessions as part of PE or as part of the wider curriculum where pupils focus on studying the texts and a range of literary features (characterisation, relationships, plots, themes...).
Each scheme of work includes a series of short films from the Royal Ballet, providing a perfect opportunity to enhance cultural capital and reinforce the activities encountered in lessons.
Teaching approaches
Dance specialist Kari Brooks is a Create & Dance artist with the Royal Opera House and first came across the programme while working independently at Broadclyst Primary School in Exeter, where she was working on a dance based on The Nutcracker with year 1 children.
She explained: “I’ve now explored many other ballets with children at school and have been amazed at how other non-specialist teachers have warmed to the programme and connected it effectively to other areas of the curriculum, including music, science, and literacy.”
Meanwhile, at my school, Halberton Primary School in Devon, key stage 2 pupils have been discovering the world of Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, which culminated in their own choreographed performance. The Schools Site offers a two-lesson course to introduce the story of Romeo and Juliet as well as information about how to warm up the body and stage a scene.
The five-lesson course goes into more detail as it helps take the class through the basics of motif-development and character dancing. The 10-week course focuses on performance skills and emphasises how the music can inspire the choreographic process.
Teacher Kirsty Northcott said: “The resources have given me the confidence to deliver dance in a creative way, and I have already seen the positive impact it has had on the children’s reading and writing. They have been really inspired and motivated, with some even working their way through various Shakespeare texts.”
Discovery: Children from Halberton Primary discovered the world of Romeo and Juliet via the Create & Dance programme (image: supplied)
So far, using the resources as a stimulus for literacy has yielded a positive impact on pupils’ reading and writing progress. Teachers have used creative writing tasks incorporating the speaking, listening, and responding, and creating and shaping texts strands of the curriculum.
The national curriculum end-of-year expectation for year 3 children is to be able to “describe characters, setting and/or plot in a simple way, with some interesting details”.
With texts such as Romeo and Juliet, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and The Nutcracker, pupils can achieve greater depth, for example, using similes and alliteration, comparing characters, and incorporating speech punctuation. In addition pupils can build creativity, communication, and resilience.
The programme also covers four of the five key indicators of the PE and Sport Premium.
The beauty of a resource like this is the potential it has. Work based on the teaching sequences could manifest in high-quality performances as well as high-quality literacy work. It would certainly do no harm in making a school ready for a deep dive in reading.
Christine Campion is head of teaching and learning at Halberton Primary School in Devon.
Further information & resources
- The Royal Opera House Create & Dance programme has trained more than 1,500 teachers across 1,000 schools. For more information, visit www.roh.org.uk/createanddance and you can find a CPD session close to your school via www.roh.org.uk/schools/teacher-training