In the beginning of my second year of university I did a module titled Children and Young People. On this module I completed a placement at a Secondary School Academy in Hull working with children aged 12-16.
The aim of the project was to create a five-minute performance over a six-week period in response to the It’s Not Ok campaign. This was a campaign that was created to help educate children in recognising concerning behaviour and identify positive relationships. In the first week the children came to the university and we all watched a performance of It’s Not Ok so that we all had the same contextual knowledge of the performance. From there each week we would go into the school and in smaller groups we would deliver our own workshops to the children using drama games and techniques so that by the last week we could create a performance that would then be performed back at the university. As facilitators we knew that we wanted every main decision to be made by the children so that they felt that they had ownership over their performance, this meant that each week we would come in with a workshop plan based on the direction that children wanted to take the performance in. They chose to focus on one of the main characters and look at their storyline, rather than trying to look at all of them at the same time.
During the workshops that we had with them we experimented with the techniques of Columbian hypnosis, the use of bamboo sticks, and mirror work. All these elements helped to show the themes of control and the social pressures that children feel. Before the final performance there was a decision made to involve us as facilitators in the performance, to perform alongside the children. We felt that this helped to showcase the collaboration and relationship that we had built up with the children over the six-week period.
This project did not come without its challenges though. As the group of children that we were working with came from an after school club it meant that each week the groups changed, we usually had the same children but occasionally there would be an additional person or someone would be missing which would mean that someone would be without a partner. This was when one of us would step in. Additionally, due to the nature of the subject that we were dealing with we had to be aware of any safeguarding issues that arose. We were made aware of the school’s policy and there was always a safeguarding officer available. My group did come across an safeguarding issue resulting in us having to avoid a specific storyline and character, however the children utilised this well, and we facilitated the sessions to make sure that conversation was steered away from upsetting topics.
I thoroughly enjoyed creating this performance with the children, building up their trust and having them feel comfortable enough to be able to discuss difficult topic areas whilst feeling safe. Everyone learnt something the experience.