Birmingham school instils British values through art

Provider Stan's Cafe Theatre Company

Name St. George's Steps

Saltley Academy and Birmingham-based Stan's Cafe Theatre Company have developed an arts project that recreates some of the most significant moments in British history, including the signing of the Magna Carta and discovery of the gunpowder plot, to teach British values.

The academy, formerly known as Saltley School, wanted to make its teaching more engaging, as well as improve its cultural offer to students after it was placed in special measures last year before its academisation as part of Ofsted's "Trojan Horse" inquiry into Islamic extremist teaching in some Birmingham schools.

It, along with other schools the theatre company works with, also wanted to find creative ways of fulfilling Department for Education requirements on teaching British values.

Under the section 78 of the Education Act 2002, all maintained schools must promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. In addition, non-statutory advice on promoting basic British values as part of pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development was introduced by the DfE in November 2014.

The initiative developed at Saltley Academy, called "St George's Steps", saw more than 240 11- and 12-year-olds learn about tolerance, the rule of law, community, freedom of expression and equality through making a series of art installations.

Using vinyl footprints, handprints, and speech bubbles, the scenes were created by eight classes of year 7 pupils through a colourful performance installation that now adorns the school's corridors and allows audiences to re-enact scenes for themselves.

In addition to the signing of the Magna Carta and discovery of the gunpowder plot, the project recreated scenes including the Suffragette protests at the 1913 Epsom Derby; the ramblers' demand of the right to roam; sheltering in an underground station during the Second World War Blitz; playing village cricket; celebrating the Queen's golden jubilee and St George slaying the mythical dragon.

Saltley Academy became the company's third partner school in September 2014 and the project was directed by artistic director James Yarker, who co-founded Stan's Cafe Theatre Company in 1991.

"We love collaborating with young people and using art as a way of learning about often complicated ideas and developing key skills," he says.

In each scene St George metaphorically slays a dragon that threatens freedom and tolerance, and the installation was shared with parents and friends on St George's Day last month.

Yarker adds: "St. George's Steps is an ambitious project for the academy to take on and a sign of their commitment to teaching British values."

It will also be used as a teaching resource and shared throughout the school, and with neighbouring schools and parents.

St Georges Steps is the twentieth edition to Stan's Cafe's Steps Series, which invites audiences to perform the show themselves and was originally inspired by "teach yourself to dance" floor mats.

Instructions for the performance are printed using vinyl footsteps, hand prints, script fragments and "object prints" that are applied to floors, walls, windows and doors and the audience are cast into the show by choosing what coloured steps to take.

Dance Steps was the first edition in the series and was carried out in 2008, also in Birmingham.

A further 19 "Steps Series" projects have followed since, with Stan's Cafe also working in Coventry, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Gateshead, as well as on an international level in France and Los Angeles.

St George's Steps was commissioned by Saltley Academy and the pupils were also helped to create the installations by their school teachers and various members of the Stan's Cafe team. Saltley head teacher Peter Weir, who joined the school after the Trojan Horse inquiry, says of the initiative: "We are confident that by challenging our students to create this installation with Stan's Cafe we will stimulate deep learning around themes of British values.

"Working with Stan's Cafe is part of our strategy for making teaching and learning more engaging and for enriching our students' cultural experience at school," he said.

The installation will remain in the school until 17 July.

To find out more about Stan's Cafe Theatre Company visit www.stanscafe.co.uk.