Page 12 - link magazine

12 The Link Magazine • June 2002
World premiere for Link sponsored Shakespeare sack

William Shakespeare will soon And according to Storysacks in- have imagined. It's a winning for- language, the verse and the sounds,
be learnt as never before, thanks ventor, former Westlea School mula which could go far." intensifying their delight by using
to youngsters from Greendown headteacher Neil Griffiths, now The Greendown prototype the games.
School who officially unveil a director of the internationally ac- Shakespeare Story Sack, which has "Trying out the Shakespeare
new way of teaching the Bard to claimed National Storysack been sponsored by The Link, is sack with young children has al-
all ages and abilities on 30 May. Project, teachers around the world based on Macbeth and is aimed at ready shown what a tremendous
Ten students ranging in age from are waiting to see the results. 7 to 14 year olds who will act the potential it has as a teaching aid.
12 to 15 years have been working "Wherever I promote Storysacks play or tell the story to others us- The contents provide a basis for
after school since September on in Britain or abroad, I'm asked if ing large stick puppets of the main stimulating ideas and imagination,
how to teach Shakespeare's plays the idea is applicable to Shake- characters, a model of Macbeth's it encourages children to come up
using dynamic interactive tech- speare; teachers are desperate for castle and scenery of the famous with their own answers."
niques based on the early years' ways to make the plays more ac- walking wood. The students have The Greendown group have
literacy aid Storysacks, the first cessible," said Neil. "I've always invented a fold out board game been working closely with Oliver
time it has been tried. Seven young- dreamt of Storysacks for older chil- with questions on key lines and Tomkins Infants School to try out
sters hope to have gained their dren. The Greendown students quotations and a game based on a their ideas and different elements
GCSE in Expressive Arts as a re- have come up with some fantastic sound effects CD. The sack will of the sack. Deputy headteacher
sult of their efforts. ideas, way beyond what I could also include a video of the group Rhian Cockwell said her pupils
acting a short version of Macbeth. had loved being involved with the

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Bag of surprises. Greendown students and Oliver Tomkins infants hold up
their Storysack in the shape of Macbeth's head, from which puppets, a castle,
01 a scenery, tapes and games will emerge at the end of May
•
Teacher Tim Noble said the sack. "Our work on Macbeth be-
Shakespeare project has brought fore Easter was given extra excite-
together strands of work that have ment when the Greendown stu-
Community Dividend been developing in Swindon over dents worked with us."
a number of years. "The West Swin- The presentation on 30 May
takes place in front of the Director
Scheme don Shakespeare Festival in 2000, of the Basic Skills Agency, literacy
which involved 15 primary
A minimum schools, secondary schools and advisors and representatives from
local colleges, gave us the confi- Swindon Council's education de-
of 1% of dence to explore new ways of learn- partment.
the Society's ing Shakespeare. Princess Anne is patron of the
"Most adults remember Shake- Basic Skills Agency and is known
profits are
speare as dry and boring. Now to take the Storysack she was given
returned to children aged seven to sixteen are at Westlea School in 1998 wher-
projects expected by the national curricu- ever she thinks she can encourage
lum to study Shakespeare; team- groups to use them to improve
to benefit ing up with Neil and his experi- literacy.
the local ence of early years' literacy was
a natural link to make.
Help for the Broadgreen Breakfast Club
community "The aim is to make Shake-
for needy and homeless people.
through the Chris Meehan, manager of the speare accessible by getting
children physically involved
Community Groundwell Road Co-op, second left,
with volunteers Mary. Sandra. Paresh in the plays, exploring the char-
Dividend Scheme. acters through the puppets to
build an understanding of the
If you think a project you know of could qualify for a
Right, trying out the prototype
grant of up to £1,000, call 0800 435902
board game, Greendown parent
for more information Judith Blake, who has been help-
ing the project, and designers
Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester James Wells and Matthew Bonny
with Oliver Tomkins infants
Abigail Lloud and Sam Green