Education meets adventure for 300 Bridlington children thanks to community production company

300 pupils from four primary schools across Bridlington have taken part in a four-week immersive theatrical project.

The school children helped historical figures, such as Charles Dickens and Alice Lieder, navigate the 21st century.

Funding from Arts Council England, allowed East Riding Libraries to commision local community producing company ARCADE and award-winning KIT Theatre to deliver the ‘Wardrobes’ project.

This project was delivered to ten classes across four schools: Bempton, Burton Agnes, Hilderthorpe and Martongate.

The Bridlington school children helped a number of historical figures in the programme, such as Charles Dickens and Alice Lieder.

An immersive theatrical experience developed to aid creative learning and support multiple aspects of the school curriculum, Wardrobes forms part of East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s wider ‘Arts in Libraries’ programme, a three-year project aimed at improving equality of access to culture and creative opportunities.

School children visited Bridlington Spa and Bridlington North Library during the programme, and even brought back historical time-traveller to their classrooms, to teach them about modern life.

Santa Express land train to come to Bridlington

This two-week period also saw the pupils engage in a specialist workshop, where they created their own original story to summon the wardrobe in the final week of the project.

Feedback from teachers who attended the sessions was highly positive: “The children were totally gripped, buzzing with excitement, the creativity and enthusiasm was great- definitely supported the learning and teaching aims! Sparked my imagination, too!”

Hannah Davies, Executive Producer at ARCADE, said: “Working on this project has been such a joy. Embedding creativity into schools in a way that supports the curriculum and celebrates creativity and play is so important.

“This project has delivered real results - the guidebook and story work of all the classes was so impressive.”

Councillor Nick Coultish, Cabinet member for culture, leisure and tourism, said: “Libraries are a doorway into greater learning and understanding for the children of the East Riding, and we’re so proud to be able to offer such immersive learning experiences to schools in our area.

“With the funding from Arts Council England, libraries are paving the way with innovative and exciting cultural opportunities for our communities. They are a vital part of the East Riding and the lives of those who live here.”

Visit: https://www.eastridinglibraries.co.uk/whats-on/ for more events at East Riding libraries.