Ray Winstone, who was born and raised in Plaistow knows all too well the value of drama.

“My reading was terrible but all that changed when I started drama classes. Drama also improved my confidence and helped me get on with others, which improved my prospects in life.

By taking these drama exams it will help young kids who find learning difficult a lot easier. I’m pleased that children from working class backgrounds can now get the same opportunities that are normally open to children that come from affluent families. This is good for our schools and for society. I am very keen to see this worth while project succeed.”

With the Government wanting to narrow the gap between rich and poor with extra ‘Pupil Premium’ money, matched with the ongoing concerns that nearly one child in every four at the age of 11 cannot read, this has come at a good time.

The initiative is being led by Bigfoot Arts Education, the UK’s largest independent arts education company and the New Era Academy, formed in 1941 to provide quality drama and acting examinations for children. Both companies have long recognised that in order to raise standards in children’s learning these opportunities must be made available to all from an early age, rather than leaving it too late.

Schools wishing to undertake the drama exams, which are accredited by OFQUAL, and shall be delivered during teachers PPA time, drama classes or through after school drama sessions. Schools that want to get involved can contact Bigfoot Arts Education directly. The initiative is open to all Primary & Secondary schools across England and South Wales from January 2012, and are encouraged to book early.

Karl Wozny, founder of Bigfoot says “We will be sending in our professional arts facilitators who are vetted and trained to deliver lessons through drama and will prepare children for their New Era group drama exams which will be linked to national curriculum subjects”

Derren Nesbitt, CEO of New Era, himself an actor for over 50 years says “Our highly trained examiners will go into the schools to assess the work undertaken and shall reward groups of children who pass with certificates which are accredited by OFQUAL. Children can progress from level 1 right up to level 8, dependent upon their proficiency, and can obtain valuable UCAS points, which will help them when they go on to further education and university”

For further information on how to get your school involved in taking New Era Drama Exams contact Heidi Hinchliffe on heidi@bigfoot-theatre.co.uk or call 0800 644 6034

It is difficult to grasp how the 14-year-old girl who entered a Yorkshire woollen mill to work in 1940 could become a key international figure in the world of education and drama and yet by the age of 24 she had become a lecturer at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne campus of Durham University, beginning a career that was to span 60 years. In that time she became the inspiration and role model for generations of teachers across the world who recognised in her unique approach the means by which to profoundly engage students and young people with their learning.

It was in 1945 that the headlines in the Yorkshire Post announced: ‘Weaver Gets Chance of Stage Career’ and, indeed, Dorothy trained as an actress, her fees paid for by the mill manager. But, much as she enjoyed acting, her vision extended beyond the stage to the use of theatre as an educational construct. She instinctively recognised the natural human predisposition to use drama as a means of exploring and understanding the world and of developing the fundamental life skills needed for it. With that recognition, Dorothy set herself the task of translating her vision into a classroom practice for all ages that continues to be inspirational to millions.

Her gift was in being able to touch people and give everything she knew away to those who were interested. Her legacy is that so many were interested and, standing on her shoulders, they continue the work of a genius who is for many, the greatest drama teacher of all.

Dorothy remained at Newcastle when it became a university in its own right in 1962. From the School of Education there, word of the charismatic young drama teacher soon began to spread. Her openness of spirit and radical, new pedagogy drew a stream of postgraduate students to Newcastle. She generously welcomed many into her own home and her husband, Raymond and their daughter, Marianne, became used to sharing the house with an annually changing group of temporary residents from home and abroad.

Dorothy created a whole school of drama practice based around the teacher shifting her pedagogy from that of an instructor to inductor, coach, facilitator and fellow artist, recognising the potency for learning of a co-creative process in which learners are empowered. She created a vocabulary of terminology such as drama for learning, drama conventions, teacher in and out of role, secondary role, Rolling Role, Chamber Theatre, Frame, Signing, Mantle of the Expert and Commissioning that is now in the canon of world-wide dramatic teaching expertise and curriculum models pioneered by her deeply held mission to bring joy and challenge into learning.

As her students returned to their places of work, Dorothy’s influence was carried with them and this precipitated an enduring torrent of invitations to work with children, young people, teachers and students across the globe. She accepted them, pioneering the use of drama as a learning process for the world in a wide range of contexts, for example, in townships such as Soweto in South Africa; in New Zealand with Maori communities; in the depths of inner cities in the UK, and in numerous countries throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and Australasia. She also worked in borstal institutions in the UK and USA; in residential care homes and learning centres for people with significant disability; in special schools and with those who work with very vulnerable people. Even during her final illness, she found creative ways of contributing; through video-conferencing, for example.

However, wherever Dorothy was working in the world she always tried to catch the earliest flight home, and remained ‘Dorothy the home-maker’. Her heart was first and foremost with her family; to her neighbours and close friends she was always ‘Dorothy the cook, the bread-maker, the seamstress, the gardener’. She was famous for rising early to prepare for the day alongside her favourite cat and the AGA. She always had a book with her wherever she went, and was an avid letter writer. She loved family days out at National Trust properties and going to the theatre, and supported her granddaughter, Anna, in all her theatrical and dancing endeavours.

In Newcastle, her pioneering methods reached the Medical School where many films focussing on dramatic reconstructing of medical issues were used in the training of medics. Similarly, she became engaged with British Gas senior managers who had become aware of the methods and adopted structures using dramatic contexts to teach their managerial staff new skills for the workplace. This relationship was soon followed by others with Volkswagen, UK, the NHS and more recently with the Crown Prosecution Service and the professional theatre.

Dorothy’s was an endlessly engaged and enquiring mind with a creativity of thought that enabled her to see the connections between her work and that of others across a spectrum of disciplines. She was never complacent and until very shortly before her death was continuing to develop and refine her practice. This resulted in a richly textured pedagogy with a density of resonance that excited and inspired both the participants in her dramas and all those who strove and continue to strive to emulate them.

Her accolades have also been many, resulting in honorary doctorates from The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the University of Derby; honours from and patronage of national and international professional bodies, such as National Drama and NATD; invitations to address the most prestigious gatherings, especially in New York; and of course through her writings and collaborations with her eminent students who had reached similar heights through her training. As early as 1974 the BBC produced a remarkable film about her practice, Three Looms Waiting, which can still be found on UTube. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list on 11th June 2011, which she was due to collect at Buckingham Palace on 18th October. Knowing that she had already received the honour, it was her wish for her family – who have carried the name Heathcote forward through two more generations – to collect the medal posthumously.

Addressing a gathering of teachers she once remarked, “I shall look forward to death” and when people gasped she said cheerily “not in any morbid sense of course, but rather as looking forward to the greatest and most mysterious adventure of all”. Dorothy’s ‘adventure’ began on 8th October 2011 when she died as a result of the blood disorder, MDS.

Dorothy Heathcote’s Life Celebration will be held at 1pm on Sunday 11 December 2011 at St. Werburgh’s Church, Church Street, Spondon, DERBY DE21 7LL. All are welcome to attend, but please RSVP to Dorothy’s daughter. Thank you.

Dorothy Heathcote

Born: 29th August 1926

Died: 8th October 2011

Source: http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/news/dorothy-heathcote-obituary/

Bigfoot Chieftain Kevin Holland has become a Mantle practitioner and has devised several programmes that uses Mantle of the Expert and the results have been staggering.

Kevin will continue to promote and extend the work of the MOE and it shall remain a key element to the work of Bigfoot Arts Eduction.

Bigfoot has created a workshop programme suitable for KS2, 3 and 4 which allows young people to explore the issues surrounding the riots in a safe environment, ensuring that they are informed of the facts and will leave the workshop feeling more positive about their own ability to cope with such social upheaval events in the future.

The one hour workshop will explore:

·         Fact vs fiction and media hype

·         The different factors that caused the riots

·         Who was involved and what did they do

·         How we can prevent the riots from happening again

·         Coping strategies for difficult situations

·         Positive strategies for change

Half Day: £175 (maximum of three workshops)

Full Day: £250 (maximum of five workshops)

**A remodelled version of this programme is also being used within our Creative Supply Services, where you can book a day or half day to cover your planned absences at a standard supply rates. Contact your local office for further details**

If you are interested in booking this workshop then please contact Lauren Senatore on lauren@bigfoot-theatre.co.uk

The voice should be a class teacher’s most precious commodity! Learn how to protect and support your voice as well as the techniques needed in order to use it for maximum effect in the classroom.

Download PDF

Book your dates now before the end of summer term and receive a fabulous discount!

Contact Sam now on sam@bigfoot-theatre.co.uk or call 0800 6446034

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1. In 2002 Bigfoot set up the ‘Creative Supply’ arm of the company to offer schools excellent drama based learning for the cost of a standard supply day. This democratised access to creative learning in primary schools by enabling schools to use specialist arts practitioners to enrich literacy and other subjects through drama, bringing a new dynamic and exciting way of learning into the classroom – All at the cost of a standard supply day! Primary schools can now call Bigfoot for creative supply days in music, dance and visual art whilst secondary schools can use our ‘specialist skills’ facilitators to cover their drama teacher’s absence. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/4792667/Dramatic-licence.html
2. In 2003 Bigfoot were the first to pioneer creative PPA cover in schools, and were used as an example case study from the National Remodelling Team to demonstrate how drama could be used to cover effective PPA time http://www.tda.gov.uk/case_studies/remodelling/bigfoot.aspx?keywords=arts Our PPA cover now includes music, dance, filmmaking, visual arts and yoga – Offering a full creative service to meet any schools needs in high quality arts provision.
3. Bigfoot were the first arts education company to develop a formal working partnership with the Government ‘Change4Life’ strategy: http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/NationalPartners-bigfoot-arts-education.aspx Our commitment to PSHE and SEAL has always been an integral part of what Bigfoot do and as soon as Change4Life was launched Bigfoot were already developing its ‘Healthy Living’ programme, so we were honoured to be part of this revolution.
4. Bigfoot are the UK’s largest independent arts education company because we are able to reach more schools within each region with our workshops. By operating locally we are able to speak to schools about their personal needs and offer a personal localised service. This is very important to Bigfoot. Our main concern is to maintain the consistency of quality in our work. Our national team has been steadily built over 10 years, so it hasn’t happened overnight. The best things come to those who wait! Meet our team here http://www.bigfoot-theatre.co.uk/contact/ Bigfoot now work with over 40,000 children a week across the UK and this is increasing each year.
5. Bigfoot were the first organisation to set up a formalised system of ‘training and vetting’ its freelance workers (Bigfooters). Karl Wozny, Founder, “When we set up Bigfoot initially, there was ‘hotch potch’ drama workshops happening in schools delivered by facilitators who had no previous experience of working within a formal education setting, so we introduced our very own training programme to ensure quality standards were met.” In 2000 Bigfoot initiated a formal induction training programme that all freelance facilitators had to attend prior to working for Bigfoot and this has gone from strength to strength. “By investing in our freelance workers through training, we have introduced a whole generation of high quality specialist arts facilitators into the education sector, helping to maintain quality standards. We estimate that over a period of 10 years Bigfoot has invested over £675,000 of its own money into training over 1500 freelance arts facilitators! And this is growing year on year”
6. In 2004, Bigfoot helped set up the UK’s first and only young filmmakers network ‘Cineclub’. Karl Wozny, Joint Founder, “We wanted to set up a sustainable model where kids could make films on a continuous basis and get really good at it!” So far Cineclub has over 10,000 students making films, having trained over 800 teachers! Cineclub is expanding its provision across the UK and estimates by 2012 to recruit over 50,000 young filmmakers.
7. In 2010 Bigfoot becomes a full service arts education company that will offer its programmes to Early Years, Primary, Secondary & FE environments.
8. In April 2010 Bigfoot has launched the ‘Bigfoot Arts Club Network’, a ground breaking initiative based on the ‘Cineclub’ CPD model, enabling schools to sustain drama as a creative learning tool within their school. Karl Wozny, “We want to be able to provide schools with ‘Real’ sustainable opportunities which impact on teacher development and children’s learning and attainment, but offering it at real value. To do this we had to go back to the drawing board, and by doing this we have launched the UK’s first drama sustainability package for primary schools” – Watch this space!!
9. In summer of 2010 Bigfoot were the first independent arts education company to apply for QISS (Quality in Study Support) This marks Bigfoot’s commitment to the Extended Schools agenda, giving schools peace of mind in maintaining quality standards in our work.
10. In 2010/11 Bigfoot will be carrying out essential independent research on ‘how children learn and develop through drama’. The findings of which will evidence the importance of creative learning within formal education. We must look to the future to ensure that creativity within mainstream education does not wither and die out. No matter what new quango comes in to play, Bigfoot will always be an independent advocate for creativity and will always be striving to enrich and empower the lives of teachers and children through the arts.

We could go on, but it’s safe to say that Bigfoot plays an important part within mainstream education and a huge part within the ‘creative education sector’. Bigfoot shall continue with its strong commitment to be pioneering and we look forward to the next 10 years!