Four primary schools from the Sevenoaks area are teaming up to explore the Cultural Olympiad that will proceed London’s hosting of one of the world’s greatest sporting celebrations in four years time.
The schools – Chiddingstone, Sevenoaks Primary, Seal St Lawrence and St Johns – will take to the stage of The Stag Theatre later this month in a unique collaboration that will see students examine the Olympic ethos and use their combined inventiveness to create performances to reflect the spirit of the Olympic Games and its cultural counterpart.
The creative process is being overseen by Sue Casson who has previously
used her experience as a writer and actor to help Chiddingstone School
stage their own musical productions. It was that collaboration that led
school head Margaret Cooke to seek ways of launching a joint project
with other schools.
“The Olympic movement is based on the same shared values that enable
all groups of people to achieve success through the pursuit of
excellence,” she says. “It is in working together that creativity truly
develops and flourishes.”
This project will gives pupils the chance to work with a professional
actor and writer, arts education specialists, a choreographer and
choral supervisor in exploring their own talent and creative
personalities ahead of the arrival in Great Britain of a
once-in-a-lifetime event.
“The aim is to capitalise on the imaginative power of children and to
realise it through a partnership with other local primary schools,” Sue
Casson explains.
Children from all four schools have been working on the narrative,
musical and choreographic elements of the presentation to be made on
June 27, and it is the kind of partnership initiative Kino Sevenoaks is
keen to see developed further.
“Not only does exposing young people to the magic of live performance
and the creative process prove invaluable in building future audiences,
it is also key to their development on many levels – artistic, creative
and participatory,” says Alison Whitbourn, Kino’s education
co-ordinator.
“We firmly see arts education as key to our long-term success and will
be actively seeking ways to build on this project and to be a key
facilitator and partner in similar initiatives that bring together our
young people and their teachers with representatives from the artistic
community.”
