Shakespeare Schools Theatre Festival

Shakespeare Schools Theatre Festival is a non-competitive drama Festival for young people aged 8-18 from all school types, backgrounds and levels of ability. Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation supports teachers to develop new skills in order to be able to direct an abridged Shakespeare production with their students, marrying up our creative pedagogy with cutting-edge rehearsal room techniques and reimagining Shakespeare for the 21st century. Teachers then return to school to put these skills into practice, culminating in a performance day where the whole company visits a professional theatre venue to perform alongside other schools from the local community.

Participating teachers complete a baseline and endline self-assessment on key skill steps, allowing them to reflect on how they have progressed in these areas over the course of the programme. They also reflect on how students' skills have developed.

Skill icons and definitions are introduced at the beginning of the programme and integrated throughout the resources, including the workshop slides and notes and the Teacher-Director handbook to flag opportunities for these skill steps to be practised and integrated into activities.