EPISODE NOTES In this episode, Claire talks with Grace Francis: Founder of DramEd, a company that delivers creative educational experiences in pre-schools and primary schools. With a background in acting on both stage and television, Grace has a passion for making performing arts accessible to all children. Having experienced her own challenges with childhood poverty and taking unfulfilling work as a young mother in between acting jobs, Grace says what drives her is helping all children access high quality performing arts experiences. Grace cites her month-long stint at a famous theatre school while she was 11 years old as being a key time that inspired her, developed her imagination, and nurtured her confidence. This is something she feels still motivates her to help all children, irrespective of their background and their experience the performing arts.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Bring learning to life. DramEd’s sessions enrich the learning that takes place in educational settings. At the core of its practice is ensuring the arts feature in the curriculum and make the topics children are learning about an experience involving drama, music and dance. Families and pre-schools. Grace is passionate about giving young children the opportunity to experience performing arts. DramEd also provide creative experiences for families and children. The team of performers plan (with artistic licence) bespoke workshops. More details can be found on their website: www.dramed.co.uk The Batman Effect. If children have been asked to complete a task and are lacking in confidence or experiencing difficulties, they could be encouraged to pretend to be their favourite superhero. For example, Batman. Adults then encourage children to consider the characteristics of the alter ego: ‘How would we do that if we were Batman?’   BEST MOMENTS “We use drama - or role-play should I say - in everyday life to prepare ourselves for certain decisions, certain challenges, a new job or a new role. Role-playing that out in our day-to-day life, even as grown-ups, and building our confidence and the public speaking and everything that performing arts brings is just necessary for children.” “I feel what I do is not separating performing arts as a stand-alone topic. Even though it’s really good for that, it’s using the elements of what performing arts can do for children - the benefits of performing arts - bringing that into the classroom and integrating it into the curriculum where possible.” “Performing arts develops a range of skills in children: it encourages their development of creative problem-solving skills; it improves their language and social skills; it fosters their decision making, their risk taking and inventiveness; it boosts their critical thinking and increases confidence. It’s a subject that has a lot of benefits for a holistic approach to living life.” “Encourage the children to stand up and role-play. But that’s only going to work if you’re confident as a teacher to do that yourselves. So, stand up, take on a role and don’t be afraid of looking silly.” “It’s literally just testing out situations. ‘What would happen if I do this?’ and playing that out. ‘What happens if it goes this way?’ and playing that out. It’s just building on that with children. That’s what I feel we do with drama and I’m really passionate about enriching children from their earliest years.” “I don’t think that performing arts is necessarily in school just for those [disadvantaged] students, but I also feel like it should be in the curriculum somewhere for all children to be able to access, regardless of their background.” “It’s not all about drama. We’re thinking about music and dance as well. Ask the children what they enjoy. Find out what they are watching and what they’re listening to.”   VALUABLE