Shakespeare Schools Foundation

Shakespeare Schools Foundation (SSF) is the UK's leading cultural education charity, giving young people the confidence and the skills they need to succeed in life. Each year we work with up to 30,000 young people of all ages, abilities and background; transforming lives through the unique power of Shakespeare.

www.shakespeareschools.org/ Fundraise for us

hello@shakespeareschools.org

02076011800

Registered charity no. 1164676

Member since January 2018

Latest News

SSF Launches its 2018 Impact Report at Speakers House

SSF launched its 2018 Impact Report at Speakers House on Tuesday 5^th March, 2019.

It was a wondeful evening, full of performances, speeches, and excitement. All of this was framed around the extraordinary statistics in our Impact Report, including:

• 95% of teachers reported that their students were more ambitious as a result of the Festival

• 98% of teachers said that their students were more able to express themselves

• 93% of teachers said that their students were able to take a creative approach to solving problems

• 82% of teachers reported that their students’ academic attainment had improved

• 97% of teachers said that their students were more able to work as a team

To read the full report, please follow the link below:

https://www.shakespeareschools.org/impact/impact-report

SSF awarded prestigious Praemium Imperiale Grant for Young Artists

Shakespeare Schools Foundation (SSF) is thrilled to be awarded the Grant for Young Artists in the 30^th anniversary year of The Praemium Imperiale.

Awarded by the Imperial Family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Arts Association, the global arts prize includes five categories not covered by The Nobel Prize - painting, sculpture, architecture, music, theatre and film. The prizes are awarded for outstanding contributions to the development and promotion of the arts.

SSF uses the unique power of Shakespeare to transform lives. At its core is the world’s largest youth drama Festival. Every year, Shakespeare Schools Festival unites up to 30,000 young people from all backgrounds and abilities in a journey that increases confidence, resilience and teamwork, giving thousands of young people from across the UK the crucial skills they need to succeed in life. The six month process culminates in exhilarating performance nights from primary, secondary and special educational needs schools at up to 136 theatres nationwide, every autumn.

This year marks SSF’s 18^th birthday and the charity is celebrating working with 300,000 young people since it was established in 2000.

Last year, SSF reported that, as a result of taking part in the Festival: 99% of teachers agree that their students’ confidence increased, 90% of teachers said that their students were more enthusiastic about school and learning and 93% of students said that they enjoy working as a team more.

The announcement of the award came this morning in the Royal Academy’s new Benjamin West Theatre. Festival schools, St Marylebone School and Greenfields Primary School, performed vignettes from Hamlet and Julius Caesar to an audience including The Japanese Ambassador to the UK and Lord Patten of Barnes, the UK’s International Advisor to the award.

Chief Executive Ruth Brock said:

“On behalf of Shakespeare Schools Foundation I am deeply honoured to accept the Grant for Young Artists Award. Shakespeare is the birthright of every child. His extraordinary works with their universal themes and beautiful language can, with the right help, belong to everyone. With SSF, children make friends, do better in class and gain the skills they need for life. Further than that, art transcends borders, heals divisions, nurtures empathy and collaboration. And as the world’s greatest playwright, Shakespeare teaches us all more about what it means to be human.

In our 18^th birthday year, this is a wonderful recognition of SSF’s work so far. We are deeply grateful to the Japan Art Association and are strengthened in our determination to ensure we continue to use Shakespeare to transform children’s lives.”

Charity patron Jamila Gavin who attended the morning’s announcement said:

"Whenever children come into contact with Shakespeare, beyond the textbook and into performance, it is a revelation for them. No longer is it some writer of the distant past placed on a pedestal by some elite, but a man whose ideas and perceptions are constantly relevant to everyone and anyone, at any age, from any background and any culture. This is why Shakespeare Schools Foundation is so valuable and so exciting - and nothing is more exciting than seeing young people bringing fresh interpretations to plays which, of all that has ever been written in the English language, demonstrates the universality of the human condition. I am proud to be a patron of a charity that is ensuring that the next generation, no matter their ability, can experience Shakespeare in such a real and relevant way.”

SSF has to raise £1 million each year to continue its work. For more information on how you can support our work visit www.shakespeareschools.org

Work for Good has written a lovely blog post about SSF! We are so grateful to be a Member Charity with Work for Good and we cant wait to continue our blossoming relationship. Check it out here https://bit.ly/2JOcohO

https://bit.ly/2JOcohO

About us

Our mission:

Shakespeare Schools Foundation (SSF) is a cultural education charity that gives young people across the UK the confidence to succeed in life.

The world’s largest youth drama festival lies at the heart of SSF’s transformative process. Every year, we work with thousands of pupils from every community, background and school type across the UK. Months of preparation culminate in exhilarating performance evenings in professional theatres nationwide; a night which can give confidence and self esteem to last a lifetime.

Our carefully tailored programmes, curriculum resources and standalone workshops improve teamwork and educational attainment. 97% of teachers say their students work better together as a team and 81% report improvements in academic attainment.

We engage diverse groups, including those with special educational needs and from minority ethnic backgrounds, and are passionate about reaching those living in areas of deprivation. With us, children gain the crucial skills they need to succeed in life. As Yusuf, aged 10 puts it: “In the future it helps you with a job, if you didn’t do this you may not have the guts.”

By delivering these results in every type of school, we promote social inclusion and improve life chances. SSF knows that the unique power of Shakespeare really can transform lives.

Our values:

Our values are a statement of intent, embodying the visceral, energetic and ambitious way in which we work to fulfil this mission.

Aspirational: With us, people achieve the impossible. By using difficult texts, professional theatres and a rigorous, supportive process we make learning ambitious. We make sure confidence flourishes as people exceed their own expectations.

Experiential: We offer a visceral, real, and enriching approach. Months of preparation culminate in a rare and exhilarating event.

Diverse: We embrace the diverse characters, styles and stories of Shakespeare and ensure it is accessible to the widest range of people and places. We make Shakespeare relevant to all who encounter it.

Uniting: Shakespeare wrote of both royalty and rebels; we believe his plays are the best way to bring people together; from uniting a cast to bringing a community into a theatre.

Thrilling: We show that playing Shakespeare is not just fun, it can also be terrifying, hilarious and deeply moving. Everyone involved learns more about what it means to be human.

Transformative: We know that what we do has the power to changes lives.

How we relieve need:

SSF has worked with over 250,000 young people since 2000. Our mission - to use the unique power of Shakespeare to transform lives - recognises the power of an excellent arts experience to effect positive change for all young people, but particularly those who need this change the most.

The world’s largest youth drama festival is the core of our work. This project offers a unique opportunity for students of different ages, backgrounds and abilities to come together in a collaborative process of learning and performing on the same stage as their peers that is particularly authentic, is inspiring and engaging, enables personal progression and develops belonging and ownership.

In 2016, 27,550 young people from 1,093 schools performed abridged Shakespeare plays in 131 theatres across the UK. Over 67,000 proud parents, carers and friends watched young people exceed their own and others’ expectations.

“This has changed my life and made me more confident in nearly everything.” Denisas, student, Greenfields Primary School, Northamptonshire

Our training is deliberately kinaesthetic; the design promotes active engagement and sets teachers and students up for success. Exercises are devised to ensure collaboration and teamwork are promoted, mistakes are celebrated as stepping stones to improvement and a comprehensive understanding of Shakespeare is embedded. As a result, something really difficult is achieved, and the improvements in self-belief and ambition become cohesive benefits that can last a lifetime.

"The new skills they have learnt and the confidence they have gained will last for much longer than one night – SSF has helped our young people look to the future." Sue, Teacher, Queen Elizabeth II Special School, Horsham

90% of young people become more confident in trying new things

80% become more ambitious

75% of students say they feel more confident speaking in front of adults

One class of children from deprived backgrounds saw 100% improvement in speaking and listening, 68% in reading and 59% in writing.

87% say their students are more able to work effectively as a team. The whole attitude to life and learning is transformed. Putting inclusivity at the heart of our work

The Festival is an inclusive, non-competitive process and any school can take part. Every year, children from different backgrounds come together to perform on the same stage. As a result of this collaborative approach, students’ horizons are broadened, bullying decreases, and confidence soars. Our thorough and rigorous process uses the power of Shakespeare to improve the life chances of thousands of the most disadvantaged young people in the UK.

75% of participating students say that they enjoy going to the theatre, museums or galleries, whilst only 40% say they often visit them. The Festival provides students with access to the arts by bringing them into a professional theatre. For many, this is their first experience of a cultural, heritage or theatre environment.

A priority area for us is young people with special educational needs. We have been building our expertise with special schools and have become skilled at delivering and enabling inclusive performances. Teachers and parents report students make enormous and often unexpected developmental strides as a result of taking part in our process;100% of special school teachers report that their students exceed expectations. Of the young people, 86% said they would like additional chances to work alongside their mainstream peers and 77% reported they felt people now saw them differently.