Today we had a fantastic start to our Black History Month activities and celebrations. We were delighted to welcome the dynamic and interactive Drama Geezers to Avon House for a day of immersive storytelling, enthusiastic performance and an all-round educational fun experience for all.
With performance workshops for Foundation 2 to Year 6 taking place over the day, children and adults were transported on a memorable journey with Alex, a boy who lives on a planet whose inhabitants have no individual identities. In his travelling time machine (click click, make sure your seat belt is on!), Alex makes his way to Earth and passes by Kenya (Habari!), and Japan (Konnichiwa!) and stops at Scotland, but in 1882. Alex and Avon House meets pioneer sportsmanship Andrew Watson, who challenged racial prejudice and stereotypes and paved the way for future generations of black footballers. The hall erupted as he scored a goal! Back in the rocket, we powered towards the year 2000 and crash landed in the lab of Dr Maggie Aderin Pocock. A brilliant and award-winning space scientist, broadcaster and author whose work is inspiring new generations of astronauts, engineers, and scientists. Fixing Alex’s rocket with her science knowledge, she sent us all back to the stars. Using physical theatre and exciting running dialogue throughout the 50-minute sessions, the Drama Geezers pulled us all into and made us part of the story. Returning to his home planet, Alex shared the wonderful things he had seen and how being the same is, well, a bit boring. At the end of Alex’s travels, he reflected on how diverse Planet Earth is. To embrace and celebrate the richness that these differences, skills and talents bring to our communities brings a better world. We ended our Avon House journey with Alex by thinking of the extraordinary in each of us, how we can make a difference and how everyone should be proud of who they are.
As the message Alex gave us sank in, a long roll of paper was laid out where everyone, from youngest to eldest, were encouraged to leave a handprint, draw a self-portrait and leave a message. As the day went on, we saw some very emotional and poignant words being written by our pupils.
Thank you Simon and Paul for such a fabulous day that encouraged imaginative thinking and a celebration of us. We hope you enjoyed your day at Avon House and we certainly enjoyed having you visit here!
Head Boy Amha and Head Girl Josephine certainly enjoyed their session, Amha said “It was fun, entertaining and interesting. The actors were very amusing and I learnt alot about different people and their achievements.”
Josephine added, “It was really funny and really included all of us. I learnt the fact that Andrew Watson was the first black footballer. I really liked doing our designs as a whole school on the giant piece of paper.”
Categories: Educational Visit
