FUSE Members Unite to Support Student Transitions
Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch and Habbit Factory have partnered to create a provision for year six and seven students who are navigating the transition into secondary school. The project, Transitions, piloted this summer term in St Edward’s C of E Academy and Parkland’s Primary School. Brainchild of the FUSE Network, Transitions came from a series of meetings between local arts professionals, Havering Council and teachers, who had highlighted a need for confidence building intervention for children navigating this important educational milestone.
The program of engaging drama workshops, led by Habbit Factory, was designed to build confidence and foster a sense of belonging for young people attending new schools. “It was a privilege to work with such a wonderful group of young people throughout these workshops. Watching their confidence grow, seeing new friendships form, and celebrating everyone’s creativity made the experience incredibly rewarding,” says lead facilitator Zoe Andronikou. “We loved creating, learning, and problem-solving alongside every young person who took part.”
The workshops received excellent feedback from the schools who participated. Sandeep Malloy, Year 6 teacher at Parkland’s Primary School, said, “There was a good combination of ice-breakers and more extended activities. The variety of topics in the sessions were supportive and interesting as pupils thoughtfully created scenes which led to discussions around what their transition to secondary school would be like.” Central to the ethos of both Queen’s Theatre and Habbit Factory, is allowing space to listen to young people. “The sessions shed light on pupils’ concerns and worries around facing bullying. Having an interactive, creative space to express these worries worked really well.”
Of particular relevance to those already at secondary school, workshops also focused on building the soft skills required to maintain positive relationships among peers and staff. By the summer term, year sevens are likely to have mastered their timetables and be able to navigate to the drama studio without getting lost! But they will continue to be making new friends throughout their entire secondary school career, particularly as they move up the school and take on different timetables to their form groups. I checked in with Sarah Allen, Assistant Head at St Edward’s C of E Academy, midway through the program: “They are starting to become more of a group and I can see confidence increasing.”
Overall, the project is the perfect example of different organisations coming together to create provisions for young people, which is what FUSE is all about.
Francesca Bailey, Schools Producer, Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch.
