Theatre in Education Tour to support Anti-Bullying Education In Moorlands Academic Year 2018-19

Written by Caroline Bridges, Business Growth Manager, Loudmouth Education & Training

April 2019

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Introduction

This evaluation report is feeding back on a theatre in education project that took place during the academic year of 2018-19. The project was to use a Theatre in Education (TIE) programme to support Personal, Social, Health & Economic Education (PSHE) including anti- bullying awareness in targeted schools (middle and secondary), in the Staffordshire Moorlands area.

The tour was delivered by Loudmouth Education & Training using their TIE programme Bully 4 U, designed to educate on anti-bullying.

The tour was funded by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and we would like to thank Victoria Ellis, Member and Community Support Officer for her support.

Established in 1994, Loudmouth Education & Training is a theatre company that supports schools and other organisations with their PSHE. Loudmouth’s aim is to help children and young people to have healthy, happy and safe relationships. The company uses drama, interaction and discussion to explore issues that affect children and young people. Loudmouth’s education and training programmes are proven to help learners to challenge attitudes, gain new skills and increase knowledge.

“Brilliant message identifying different kinds of bullying which pupils might not recognise.” KS3 Leader, Woodhouse Academy

“It shows you real-life situations which helps you understand what to do and how to get help.” Year 9 Pupil

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Executive Summary

• During the academic year of 2018-19 Loudmouth Education & Training ran a total of 9 theatre in education sessions of Bully 4 U in secondary schools in Staffordshire Moorlands.

• We visited 9 schools, delivering in each school a drama performance for a whole year group, with interactive workshop element.

• We provided each school with access to a term’s worth of online lesson plans on anti- bullying.

“ I think it's a really clever and enjoyable way of getting the message

across and making people understand a lot easier. Overall amazing!” Year 8 Student, Moorside High School

“Very topical and relevant, pitched perfectly for the age-range.

Addressing lots of issues facing pupils in and out of school today.” KS3 Leader, Woodhouse Academy

• We worked with 1,555 young people aged 11 to 16 years old.

• 92% of students rated their knowledge of bullying/cyber-bullying as good or

excellent as a result of seeing Bully 4 U.

• Part of the session focused on a series of techniques that students could use to stay safe online. When asked after the session what someone should do if they are being

bullied/cyber-bullied, the percentage of students that identified the techniques were as follows: get advice and support from someone you trust – 95%, don’t share . personal information online - 68%, block phone numbers and email addresses – 84%, save any abusive text messages or emails - 72% , do not reply to any abusive text messages or emails – 75%.

. • 79% of students stated they felt that after seeing Bully 4 U they would act or behave differently in the future e.g. they would tell someone if they or someone else were being bullied and would understand the impact on those who are bullied.

• 100% of students said they thought Bully 4 U helps young people to learn about bullying/cyber-bullying.

• 100% of students said they would recommend Bully 4 U to next year’s students.

• 92% of pupils identified ChildLine as an organisation you can go to for help and support around bullying. 68% identified thinkyouknow.com, 57% identified bullying.co.uk and 18% identified Loudmouth (we give the pupils Loudmouth cards displaying our website address as the site contains links to a number of local and PAGE 3

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national support organisations). We are pleased that the top three organisations to which we signpost were the top three answers given by the students.

• On a scale rating of poor, below average, above average and excellent, 90% of staff rated the programmes as “Excellent”. 10% recorded that they thought the programmes were “Above average”.

• 100% of staff said they would recommend the Loudmouth programmes they saw to other schools and organisations.

“Students have been able to discuss the sufficient options available to

them in and outside of school” Head of Year 9,

“I would feel comfortable speaking to students about any issues they now have.” TA, Moorside High School

• All staff who answered agreed that the programme had “Considerably” or “Greatly” increased their groups’ knowledge of the issues covered, with 22% stating they felt the programme had “Greatly” increased their group’s knowledge.

• 100% of staff agreed that the programme had helped their students learn new skills.

• 100% staff who answered felt that the session had “Considerably” or “Greatly” increased the groups’ knowledge of where to go for support around the issues the . programme covered. 20% of staff who answered felt the programme had “Greatly” increased this knowledge.

• 90% of staff felt that the programme had increased their own confidence in . delivering work on the issues. 70% of staff recorded that it had “Greatly” or “Considerably” increased their confidence in this area.

• 100% of staff (all that gave an answer) felt that lesson plans on these issues are useful. Loudmouth supplies a password to their website to all participating staff that gives staff access to all the Loudmouth lesson plans.

Summary of Activity

The tour took place in the academic year 2018-19.

Loudmouth ran a total of 9 sessions, for middle school and secondary school aged students. Each session consisted of a drama performance with workshop element to a whole year group as follows:

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Date of Venue Name Year Number of Session Group participants 15-Oct-18 Biddulph High School 9 195 16-Oct-18 9 140 19-Oct-18 Churnet View Middle School 7 120 16-Nov-18 Woodhouse Academy 7 & 8 200 01-Mar-19 Moorside High School 8 140 11-Feb-19 Leek High School 9 100 22-Mar-19 7 - 9 250 29-Mar-19 Blythe Bridge School & 6th Form 8 180 Centre 05-Apr-19 Painsley Catholic College 8 230 Total 1,555

Conclusions and Recommendations

The tour has proved to be very successful and clearly had a positive impact on the children, young people and school staff. The quality of the TIE programme was commented upon with 99% of children and young people recommending the work for future year groups and 100% of teaching staff saying they would recommend the work to other organisations.

All of the learning objectives were met by the vast majority of the participants, who learnt key information, skills and positive attitudes on anti-bullying to support them to have healthy and safe lives. The evaluation report shows that the TIE programme run by Loudmouth gave knowledge and confidence to participants on the issues involved and increased school staff’s confidence in delivering further work on the issues.

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The report also demonstrates that this approach of using TIE is a powerful way to communicate key messages about who to go to for support around bullying. The key organisations that we flag up during the sessions came out top in the evaluation.

We were pleased with getting the programme into two new schools that we hadn’t worked in the year before; Painsley Catholic College and The Cheadle Academy.

In conclusion the learning from the programme both for the participants and staff was very beneficial, with students learning how to spot a range of a) types of bullying and b) sources of help and support.

If repeat funding is available in 2019/20 we would recommend asking schools for a financial contribution as this makes the funding go further meaning we could potentially reach more children and young people.

School contributions are also advisable in terms of sustainability, as it will enable schools to start thinking about how they might pay in full for this type of work in future years, particularly with the approach of statutory RSE in September 2020.

For more information about this tour or any of Loudmouth’s work www.loudmouth.co.uk [email protected] 0121 446 4880

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www.loudmouth.co.uk [email protected] 0121 446 4880