As performing artists in music, drama, dance, slamming and beat box, our children have performed all over London for a huge range of audiences from the Mayor of London to the shoppers at Tesco's.  

Dance

We are very lucky to have a long established relationship with our specialist dance teacher who works closely with the African Drumming teacher, teaching the children dances and songs from around the world. These weekly dance lessons, which the children learn alongside African drumming, expose them to rhythms and dances from across the world.

Our talented group of drummers and dancers - The Dynamix - were selected to perform at the School Proms at The Royal Albert Hall in 2012 - see the news story written about their performance here. They also performed to an audience of hundreds of music professionals at City Hall for the Mayor's  Music summit in 2016.

 

More recently children from Year 6 collaborated with the world renowned Wayne McGregor contemporary dance group, who are based nearby in Here East, on a project about empowerment and identity. Over a period of several months the children worked on developing a piece of contemporary dance to showcase at Studio Wayne McGregor. They also got to watch the Wayne McGregor dancer group rehearsing a couple of their own dances. You can watch the lovely film made about the exciting collaboration here 

 

Drama

Drama is encouraged and incorporated into lessons reaching across the curriculum, from role-playing different historical situations within foundation subject lessons, to ‘hot-seating’ characters from texts, and ‘storyboarding’ through drama to try out creative writing ideas in literacy. The children enjoy these moments, free to express themselves in a different way, while the teachers can witness the benefits as children’s confidence and speaking and listening skills are enhanced. Furthermore, their ability to empathise is increased, thus facilitating more powerful and convincing writing as a result.

      

Regular class assemblies are another chance for children to shine in often ambitious productions that showcase the children’s learning across the curriculum. Parents and carers are invited to be the audience and are always entertained. Classes in Key Stage Two often write their own scripts and devise their own sound effects and dance moves, so it is a collaborative and empowering process where every child has a role to play. Our ambitious Year 1 Nativity performance is always a spectacular event loved by the whole school and very well attended by parents and carers.

We have collaborated with the New International Encounter theatre company, with their Shakespeare in a Suitcase project  - with them delivering an immersive insight workshop with our Year 6 children, having performed Hamlet to them. The Theatre company gained valuable feedback to help further develop their show and the children loved this experience which gave them a sense of responsibility and an engaging introduction to Shakespeare’s work.  

Our year 5 pupils have been to see Hamlet at the National Theatre and had a pre- performance workshop enabling them to gain an understanding of the story and setting of the play.

Kingsmead’s Got Talent

Every term we hold a child-led showcase which is performed to the whole school. Children carry out auditions in their classes and performers/artists are selected by the children, to represent their class. This is always a hugely enjoyable event and the children take great pride in rehearsing and collaborating with class members for their performances.

 

You can find out more about other performing arts opportunities Kingsmead have been involved with on our Timeline of Past Collaborations and Creative Projects page.