Curious Minds

Drama to Encourage Enterprise Skills

Christ Church Primary School, a Change School in Sefton, has trained staff in Mantle of the Expert (MoE) to engage pupils in learning using drama. MoE gives children the status of ‘experts’, collaborating to solve problems or address challenges, for example: how to rescue villagers from a fierce dragon; how to become a superhero. Coached by Luke Abbot from MoE, with support from drama practitioners Emma Bramley and David Gilday, staff developed the skill of observing incidental learning as well as planned learning experiences.  Reflection is key to the success of the pedagogy and staff developed retrospective planning skills, learners’ questioning skills and opportunities for children's self determination.

Impacts included:

• Two or more sub-levels of progress in Maths, Literacy and Reading SATs.  Some children are now as much as 5 levels higher.
• Reluctant workers became more active due to open-ended problem solving.  For example, in Year 3 children with behavioural difficulties worked well together for a sustained period and demonstrated profound levels of engagement (Assistant Head Teacher lesson observation notes).