In 2008, Tower Hamlets commissioned Half Moon to create a programme to help young people in the borough through the transition from primary to secondary school. The programme is still running and uses forum theatre to explore young people’s fears and aspirations about the move to secondary school.
The programme is structured into four sessions: gathering the young people’s fears about secondary school; presenting a forum theatre piece based on these fears; exploring the young people’s aspirations for secondary school and what they would like to leave behind them in primary school, starting secondary school with a clean slate.
You can find more information about the programme, which we are currently delivering, on the Half Moon website.
Chris Elwell has been the Director of Half Moon Theatre on White Horse Road since 1997. He talks about a selection of the company’s schools’ projects, including Transitions, Lyrical Laps, Dramatic Maths and Careers in Theatre. Interviewed by Kavana Joyett.
Thomas Simper is an actor and workshop facilitator who has been involved with Half Moon Theatre productions and various outreach projects in schools. Here he talks about the Transitions project for Year 6 pupils. Interviewed by Elsa Loker.
Creative Learning Producer, Beccy Allen talks about Half Moon Theatre’s Transitions programme, which has been running since 2011. Transitions uses Forum Theatre to support young people’s transition from primary to secondary school. Interviewed by Toni Tsaera.
This video was created to document the 2008 pilot Transitions programme, working with young people at St Paul’s Way Trust School and Stebon and St Paul’s with St Luke’s Primary Schools.
In its pilot year, Transitions worked with students from St Paul’s Way Trust School, Stebon Primary and St Paul’s with St Luke’s Primary Schools. The secondary school students acted as mentors for the Year 6s, sharing some of their experiences of the transition to secondary school. Parents and carers were also invited to one of the performances to help them understand their children’s fears about the move to secondary school. A teacher CPD was also included in the project to embed the forum theatre practice in the schools.
In 2009, the programme was rolled out to six more schools, including George Green’s and Oaklands Secondary Schools and Harbinger, Cubitt Town, Columbia and Clara Grant Primary Schools as part of Find Your Talent, a government programme to ensure young people had regular access to creative activities.
Have you got a memory you’d like to share? Or perhaps you have a programme or poster from one of our shows that we're currently missing? Then we want to hear from you! The website is a living archive and we will continue to add information as it comes to light.
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