Down to Earth in Macaulay School, Clapham

Our Down to Earth  environmental drama project went to Clapham this week. It was nice to work with a smaller group of just 30 (Year 6) and get to know the children better than if there were 60 to 100. Macaulay School has had every production we have done since 2007 and often we use them as a place to trial our new material. It was nice that this time Down to Earth came having been well and truly run in. At every school we go to there is always something that is memorable. For Macaulay it was the way they worked on creating a rap to find "solutions to stop the pollution" and their delivery of it in the performance. I think it helped that they had already produced raps last year on the subject so they had material to work with. The final group performed their rap and on their last word we all put out our hand to the audience and said "Stop!" In a word we challenged the audience to rethink how they are living on the planet. Our A Rocha team also challenged the children and school to engage with their local environment and encourage wildlife to grow and prosper. They shared with us about an A Rocha project being run in Camberwell where they are creating wildlife friendly gardens in and around an urban estate.