P7 Pupils brush up their Shakespeare
Shakespeare Day at Hutchesons' celebrates the bard of Stratford, his world and his art and involves Primary 7 pupils with teachers from several subjects in the Secondary School.
Having studied "Twelfth Night" in Primary 7, pupils are prepared for the day by their own class teachers and dress in costumes inspired by Shakespearean characters or themes. During the day members of the English, Drama, Art and Music departments take them through the music, dance, fashion, poetry and fighting in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" before completing the day with a performance in the Auditorium.
There are several objectives to the day. First, pupils meet Shakespeare through a range of contexts that take them beyond and behind classroom theory to get a feel for the reality, the fun, the life at the heart of Shakespeare's achievement. This not only builds on the study that they have undertaken already but prepares them for the Shakespeare that they will meet when they come to S1 - it gives some context for what they meet and encourages them to see Shakespeare in a positive light. They can approach the language of Shakespeare positively and not as something alienating.
It also introduces them to the Drama, English, Art and Music departments in the secondary school, helping to socialise them in preparation for their transition to S1, both in familiarity with teachers and their surroundings and the idea of subject disciplines being different ways of looking at the same thing. Shakespeare day reflects the commitment of the school to challenge and engage pupils in creative and imaginative ways without ‘dumbing down': taking something regarded as difficult and forbidding (but central to our collective cultural heritage), tackling it without compromise and showing that fun doesn't have to mean dumb.
