Learning

Creative Learning blog:

We are all learning and we love learning together. We collaborate with schools, usually in long term partnerships, to help them serve their students better. This work is usually made bespoke but there are favourite projects that continue to be in demand. We also help train teachers and share our experiences with university students. A small fraction of these projects are highlighted here, many more can be found in the archive (you can filter searches in all kinds of useful ways).

Sami Small Pulls A Bus

Sami Small Pulls A Bus

Physics, music and muscles came together as Sami (and his friends) from Wheelers Lane Technology College pulled a National Express bus.

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Creativity Collaboratives

Creativity Collaboratives

Working with nine primary schools from the Elliot Foundation, using artistic collaborations to help children flourish.

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Big Brother Macbeth

Big Brother Macbeth

What if Shakespeare’s popular tragedy takes place in a castle wired for CCTV? With 15 acting students and 10 cameras we find out. “Treason Has Nowhere To Hid”

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The Many Lives Of PET #1

The Many Lives Of PET #1

GCSE Science workshops about plastics and recycling fed into this fast and funny show that toured community venues and return to schools as revision.

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The Classroom Stage

The Classroom Stage

Teachers learn how to use Stan’s Cafe’s rehearsal room techniques to improve their teaching of English in Primary Classrooms. Supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Teacher Development Fund.

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Precious Emily

Precious Emily

Ten Birmingham primary schools each make their own play about the iconic weightlifters Precious McKenzie and Emily Campbell for the Birmingham2022 Festival.

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Billesley Primary School

Billesley Primary School

A journey from ‘Special Measures’ to ‘Outstanding’ via a host of artistic learning collaborations in a long term partnership.

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  • FREE Year 10 Science Workshop & Show
    We’ve started hanging out with Birmingham Plastics Network (BPN) at the University of Birmingham (UoB). We’re making a performance dramatising their report in the Future Of Plastic called The Many […]
  • Philosophy Song Cycle
    Year 4 students at Kings Rise Academy have been musing over some philosophical conundrums: Is it ever okay to lie? Can money buy happiness? What is friendship? What is love? […]
  • Five new productions in July
    In the next two weeks we open five new productions. This is a major challenge, fortunately we have four hundred and fifty students and their teachers all helping us. First […]
  • A Tour Of The Indus
    At the start of 2023 we worked with St. Matthews Primary School where children explored the Indus and learning about its people, its history and its geography. With our Associate […]
  • The View From The Stage

    The Classroom Stage has been a two-year programme with have run supported by the Paul Hamlyn Teacher Development Fund. One of the fund’s priorities is that “all those involved are positioned as learners”. This includes Stan’s Cafe Associate Artists who were partnered one to each of our ten schools.

    Here Carys Jones reflects on her own journey working as an Artist on The Classroom Stage with Years 3, 5 and 6 at St Gerard’s Catholic Primary School.