On 29th January St Edward’s school will make its Everyman debut when its cast and crew put on a performance of The Addams Family. The school has in the past made use of its Main Hall, Drama Studios, Performance Hall and even its Woods for school productions but this year it has entered into a partnership with the Everyman who now run their junior workshops in the drama studios at St Edward’s enabling the school to put their main production on at the professional theatre.
The school has also become a sponsor of the theatre providing opportunities for those students interested in pursuing careers in the performing arts to get behind the scenes and having the opportunity learn from the best who come to the fantastic venue that is The Everyman.
The expressive arts have always been a strength of the educational experience provided by St Edward’s and to strengthen this but also provide our students with an even broader exposure to the arts St Edward’s is also proud to announce a new partnership with Arts International.
Having embedded High Performance Learning values and behaviours into life at St Edward’s culminating in a World Class Award last year the school felt a shared value with Arts International who at its core have 4 C’s – Confidence, Creativity, Collaboration and Compassion.
This partnership will see weeklong residences on themes selected by St Edward’s with leading performers from TV, film and the theatre working with our students and teachers. With just over 20% of the school population involved in this weekend’s production it is clear there is a real engagement from our community and through this and other opportunities we know this new partnership will help our students develop behaviours for leading learning and life, supporting mental health and well-being as well as building and sustaining our community.
In the last week the cast have had additional support from theatre stars including Jessica Keable who was most recently in The Addams Family, Tom Dickerson who was most recently the The Book of Mormon and Ahmed Hamad who begins a run with The National Theatre from Monday.
Quote from Mrs Miriam Monk, Director of Drama at St Edward’s
“Making our Everyman Debut is such a privilege for all the staff and students who enjoy performing and at the same time. We always look for opportunities for our students to perform and we are so excited that so many of them now have a taste of professional theatre.”
Quote from Dr Andrew Lee, Founder and Director of Arts International
“We are delighted to be in partnership with St Edwards. We have built trust and mutual respect together very quickly. So, as well as developing Confidence, Creativity, Collaboration and Compassion, we know that our partnership will create moments of magic that will last a lifetime for everyone involved.”
Quote from Mrs Nicola Pope, Head of Expressive Arts and Director of Music at St Edward’s
“Expressive arts at St Ed’s goes from strength to strength. As well as having the facilities on site and now access to the Everyman our partnership with Arts International provides a genuinely unique opportunity for all our students and is one that I know they, our staff and parents are excited to see develop.”
Quote from Mr Matthew Burke, Headmaster of St Edward’s
“These are exciting times for our St Edward’s community as we move from strength to strength in so many aspects of life within the school. Partnering with institutions such as Arts International is further demonstration of our desire to provide the best for each of our students, whatever their talents may be. Life at St Edward’s is about so much more than the outstanding academic results our students achieve and this is additional evidence of our desire to ensure every student becomes the best them that they can be.”
