We’ve just left the first month of 2018 behind us, and already we’ve seen a month of interesting dates your school may have acknowledged. Maybe you took part in the Big Schools Garden Watch from the 16th-30th January, or marked World Braille Day on the 4th. Perhaps you went down to our provider, The Higgins, to get involved with their Holocaust Memorial Day activities, or maybe you were just gearing up to get going with the rest of the year. Either way, we’re all aware that the school year is packed full of important dates that can help make learning fun, interesting, and a little bit different from the average ‘in-the-classroom’ experience.

Using The Culture Challenge is a great way to bring these dates and events to life. Our providers are experienced in working to briefs to create exciting, informative, and inclusive experiences that make learning fun. For instance, in October last year, our provider, Ed King of Irie Vibes, went into Shortstown Primary School to deliver a drumming, Capoeira and storytelling workshop. This was held as part of the ‘Living Lines Black History Month at Shortstown’ celebrations. Ed delivered a whole school assembly, which include a talk on Kente (traditional African print), and African drumming demonstration with a call and response participation element, Capoeira, and traditional African stories. Ed also visited classrooms to tell traditional African stories to preschool and years 1 and 2, and to deliver drumming workshops with the older years. The day after, another The Culture Challenge provider, Anne-Marie Stijelja, delivered a workshop on Kente – the traditional African print that Ed had talked about in his assembly.

Here is some feedback from a teacher at Shortstown Primary School:

“As a school, we wanted to celebrate Black History Month creatively. We decided that we wanted to focus our theme on Africa. Ed played a key role in inspiring the staff and pupils with a very interesting and interactive assembly that all years (reception – year 6) could enjoy. The children and staff were inspired by Ed’s storytelling, African drumming and dancing. Ed spent the morning within the school, storytelling to our preschool unit and going into classrooms to support their artwork. The children responded really well to Ed and his work supported our celebration of Black History month in a way that as staff we could not have done so successfully. We would recommend Ed and would happily work with him again in the future.” – Hannah Machin, Year 3/4.

So, with the best part of 2018 ahead of us, now is a great time to think about how you can really bring learning to life this year. Maybe you’d like to do something different for World Book Day on 1st March? Our provider, Rogan’s Books would make a good place to start. Or how about investigating the world of creepy crawlies during National Insect Week in June? Our provider, Teaching Talons could help. However you decide to do things this year, we hope you’ll check out all of our wonderfully talented providers who are ready to work with you to make the school year as memorable, innovative, and exciting as it can be, and help get young minds fired up with creativity and possibility.