BA Acting and BA Applied Drama students welcome Year 6 Primary School Children on to campus for a morning of Drama-in-Education

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David has welcomed Year 6 Primary School Children to the Carmarthen campus to experience a morning of Drama-in-Education.

34 primary school children from Blaen y Maes in Swansea visited the Carmarthen Campus recently to experience Drama-in-Education workshops with 2nd year students from Performing Arts. UWTSD’s Widening Access team worked with Applied Drama lecturer, Ali Franks to support this wonderful opportunity for the school and students.

BA Acting students and BA Applied Drama students study a module in Year 2 called ‘Drama and Theatre in Education,’ where they learn a variety of ways of working with children and young people using Drama as a tool for learning.

Children learn through participating actively in roleplay scenarios, improvisations and drama activities. Drama-in-Education is participatory, experiential and collaborative. It seeks to transform learning by encouraging children to work together creatively to explore a range of ideas – it could be cross-curricular drawing on different school subjects, it may have a social focus, and it may be concerned with personal development.

The pupils attended 2 different workshops where they played drama games, engaged in improvisations and even became detectives solving the mystery of the missing ‘Trinity Bear’.

This school visit to Carmarthen is the first opportunity for students to practise their new skills with school pupils before they attend the school themselves later on in the term to run drama workshops with the 68 children across the 3 classes.

UWTSD’s Applied Lecturer Ali Franks said:

“It is such a wonderful partnership between the school and the university as the students benefit so much from the real-world experience that comes from this situation and the pupils get to participate in these wonderfully creative learning experiences.  We are really looking forward to visiting the school later on in the term where the students will deliver workshops based on the book that the children are reading in class, this is fantastic as we get to support curriculum learning whilst providing authentic assessment opportunities for our students”

Amy Smith, a teacher from Blaen y Maes Primary School added:

“The children thoroughly enjoyed on campus! They were talking about the workshops with the Y5 pupils when we returned to school. We are really looking forward to the workshops in May.”

BA Acting student Jack Eriksen mentioned that:

“The children were inspired to take part in something new and creative while having a fun time meeting new people and playing some games. It will be an honour to work with them again in May.”

BA Applied Drama student Kyle Collingwood said:

“The children had an exciting time from start to finish, a truly immersive experience for both facilitators and participants”.

Further Information

Lowri Thomas

Principal Communications and PR Officer   
Corporate Communications and PR    
Email: lowri.thomas@uwtsd.ac.uk    
Phone: 07449 998476