St Elphin's CE Primary School

Year 3/4 and Year 4 recently enjoyed an exciting and creative visit to Clonter Theatre, where they spent the day learning about different aspects of theatre production.

When the pupils arrived, they quickly settled in before beginning their first workshops. The class was split into two groups so that everyone could experience a range of activities. One group started with a Music Composition workshop, where pupils created their own pieces of music and learned how sound can help tell a story on stage. At the same time, the other group explored Lighting Design, experimenting with special lighting techniques such as GOBO patterns to see how lighting can change the mood and atmosphere of a performance.

After a short break, the groups swapped activities so everyone had the chance to try both music and lighting. It was fascinating for the pupils to see how much work goes on behind the scenes in a theatre.

Following lunch, the afternoon sessions focused on other creative areas. In Costume Design, pupils thought carefully about characters and designed costumes that would help bring them to life on stage. The other workshop took place on the theatre stage, where pupils took part in a Stage Awareness and Set Configuration session. They learned how actors move around the stage and how sets are arranged to create different scenes.

Throughout the day, Year 4 showed fantastic creativity, teamwork and enthusiasm. The visit helped the pupils understand how many different skills are needed to create a theatre production.

Overall they had brilliant day at Clonter Theatre and returned to school with lots of new ideas and a greater appreciation for the world of theatre and they performing arts.