Lynch Hill School – Slough
Lynch Hill School joined the Creative Partnerships Enquiry School programme in 2010. The young people and teachers worked with dancer, Theah Dix to explore their enquiry question, ‘can we use Dance as a tool to help children become confident, independent learners with a focus on global awareness?"
The school chose this area because they believe that children in their locality of Slough struggle to understand global awareness and that as teachers they had a limited understanding of dance as a teaching tool.
The school has found that a lot of the children in Lynch Hill School don't travel any further than the centre of Slough and that, although there are lots of different cultures living in Slough, they don't always mix very well. By working with their creative partner Theah, they wanted children to start to appreciate their own cultures as well as others.
By working with Theah over the spring term, the children developed their skills in Afro-Brazilian music. The unfamiliarity of the music and way of moving helped them learn to move in new ways, developing their sense of rhythm, timing and coordination. They also felt that they were able to dance with better technique and discipline and to perform the dance rather than just going through the steps.
The young people developed a sense of pride of their culture and went home and had conversations with their parents about their roots and heritage. There was a sense throughout the project of Africa as one place rather than as a continent made up of many different countries and cultures.
Through learning about Afro-Brazilian dance the young people became much more open to new and different things in the world around them. Teachers believe that there was a sense of having their eyes opened to a much bigger world around them and the part that they play in it. They developed empathy for others and awareness of the world around them.
"Some of us may think English music is the best but when I heard Afro-Brazilian music I loved it." Young person
"It makes me feel proud of for who I am. It makes you feel free. Some people treat African people more differently." Young Person, Lynch Hill School