St Alban’s School

“The children like Shakespeare; the stories are gripping, the characters incredibly engaging, detailed and well drawn and they’re entitled to it – it’s their heritage.”

For many of the students at St Albans School, English is not a first language; in many cases it’s the 3rd or 4th language. English levels on transfer from primary school are meant to be at level 4, however 60% of St Albans’ students are on level 2. St Albans concentrates its efforts on getting students numerate and literate and does not include drama in the curriculum.

Andrew Cooley wanted to show his students that “English wasn’t just about taking an exam” and suggested some of his Year 9 English class perform Othello for SSF. This decision took his students into a whole new world, culminating in the SSF performance and a school trip to see Lenny Henry as Othello, which had them spell-bound. “There is no way the students would have engaged in a full-length Shakespeare performance, Lenny Henry or not, had they not taken part in SSF.”

Andrew’s reward was the way the “wholly positive” effect on the small cast impacted on the whole class studying Richard III. “It was interesting to see the boys, especially, come in and be the experts, and the other pupils defer to them in lots of ways. A lot of them would ask ‘what do you think about this?’ or ‘how does this happen?’... so they definitely gained in status.” Yousuf, who won a Drama Award for ‘his inventive and uninhibited portrayal’ has chosen Measure for Measure for SSF 2010 after reading the unabridged play. Andrew is delighted: “I’ve only ever taught it to A-level or degree classes. I never thought I’d teach it to year 10.”