In November 2002 we ran free Inclusion Workshop Days at 7 different mainstream primary schools, to celebrate National Inclusion Week. Each school provided 3 groups of approximately 30 children, with each group participating in 4 sessions during their Inclusion Day. In one session the children watched a short drama piece "The White Men Juggling Sketch", about friendship and playground behaviour, which was followed by discussion, mask-work and trust games. Another session included watching a video we had made, demonstrating inclusive and non-inclusive behaviour, with more discussion afterwards. This was followed by a session in the classroom where the children created card figures of themselves and then placed them on a canvas of a playground/park scene we had created, which led to discussions about why each child had placed themselves in a certain position, friendship groups and why certain children had been "left out" etc. The final session had all 3 groups coming together, in the hall, for a re-cap on the day and for the children to feed back on what they had learned about inclusive & non-inclusive and kind & unkind behaviour. 2,070 x 90-minute child sessions. Several other Inclusion Workshops also took place during the year. We are very pleased with the develpment of these workshops and we hope to undertake more of these in the future.

"Thank you so much for giving us such a good Inclusion Day last Friday. The children all thoroughly enjoyed the day, and our school staff now have some good ideas to work on for inclusion and behaviour management - we would love to be involved in any future projects. We found the hall and video sessions very helpful. We particularly liked the masks, as so many of our children are unable to read facial expressions well. The backdrops you provided for the playground spectograph were wonderful. We all appreciated how professional our displays became, and the scenes provided good talking points in class. We hope to keep them as a feature in the school - well done! As you know the school is in quite a deprived area and we do have difficulties, including pupils with a variety of problems. The Inclusion Workshop Day certainly worked well for us."
Teacher in charge of SLRB, Westover Green School, Bridgwater.

THE 2 INCLUSION VIDEOS we have created that demonstrate inclusive & non-inclusive behaviour in an informative and interesting way are invaluable for our own workshops as "discussion-starters", and we believe they could also be valuable to schools when addressing their PSHE Curriculum, so we are considering developing the videos and marketing them as school tools in the future.

ANTI-BULLYING WORKSHOPS

We have undertaken Anti-Bullying workshops at several different schools this year - at St. Dunstan's Community School in Glastonbury, Wells Blue Secondary School, Somerford Junior School in Christchurch, and, at the suggestion of the Somerset Children's Fund, Chilton Trinity Secondary School in Bridgwater and Wembdon St. George Primary School. These Workshops can be adapted for pupils Year 4 to Year 9. With the assistance of pupils from St. Dunstan's Community School, we have created a video to be used as a "discussion-starter" in future Anti-Bullying Workshops. Each Anti-Bullying Workshop Day consists of 2 x 90-minute drama and discussion workshops in the morning for 30 pupils, who then also prepare a movement piece entitled "The Bully and the Victim". In the afternoon there is a 90-minute "Television Chat Show" session for the entire Year Group where the movement piece is performed by the 30 workshop children followed by a debate including staff and older pupils.

A total of 1,286 x 90 minute child-sessions. "Thank you very much for the Anti-Bullying Workshop you ran for Year 4 at our school yesterday. All the children valued it, and it was wonderful to have the opportunity of a whole day's PSHE with such valuable content. We all thought the workshop was run in the right way and at the right level for Year 4 children, and the Year 5 children also gained from the presentation at the end. The workshop backed up the work we already have in place in the school, but delivered it in a way we could not, with your expertise in mime, drama and music. The children will remember it for many months to come."
Class Teacher, Wemdon St. George School. Both staff and students found the Anti-Bullying Day extremely exhiliarating and intensely enjoyable. Students follow-up comments over the next few weeks were very positive, & if I were Head of Year 7 again, I would be more than happy to buy into this workshop again. It was well presented, well thought out and well led."
Head of Year 7, Wells Blue Secondary School.

TRANSITION WORKSHOPS

Transition is hard for all children, especially those moving from a small village primary school to a far larger secondary school. In response to a request from Brookside Primary School, Children's World's Transition Workshops were devised, in 2001, for Year 6 "feeder school" pupils from the Crispin Federation of schools, who would be moving up to Secondary School that September, and who it was thought might have problems with the transition. These Workshops enabled the children to voice any fears they had and offered them advice from school staff and pupils who already attend the secondary school. Children's World used Mask Work and Trust Games to allow the children to relax and relate openly with children from other schools who would be joining their Year Group the following term. Having discussed their hopes and fears in the morning, in the afternoon the children were divided into 2 teams to undergo the "Team Challenge". Throughout the afternoon they were asked to be a constructive, positive member of a team, overcoming potential problems that might arise from the challenges. They were given adult feedback on their behaviour and also assessed their own performances. In the Summer Term 2002, we were again commissioned by Brookside Primary School in Street to run Transition Workshops for all the Year 6 "feeder school" pupils, in the Crispin Federation, who would be moving up to Crispin Secondary School at the beginning of the Autumn Term 2003. We ran 3 days of very successful workshops and will be running a follow-up workshop for some of these children in the Autumn Term. We also ran Transition Workshops for 25 Year 6 pupils from Woolavington Primary School at the suggestion of the Somerset Childre's Fund. During November 2002 we ran Follow-Up visits for 3 Secondary Schools (Bishops Fox in Taunton, Crispin in Street & Frome Community College), where we had previously run Transition Workshops in July 02. These Follow-up visits focus on discussions with the children about "How's it all going?" etc. which enable them to talk about their feelings and attempt to solve any problems they may have at their new school.

435 x 90-minute child-sessions. "The Transition Workshops gave Year 6 pupils the valuable opportunity to meet and learn to work together as a team with young people they didn't know and of the opposite sex. They were encouraged to overcome embarrassment and inhibitions in a supportive, relaxed atmosphere and were given the opportunity to discuss how they felt when put in this position. I felt the Workshop was especially useful for pupils from small feeder primary schools. These pupils would otherwise have known very few other pupils at Crispin. The Children's World's workshop gave them the experience of working in a large group of their peers and gave them a forum for voicing their concerns about coming to a much larger school. It was evident that the activities had a positive effect on the group. I saw the confidence and enthusiasm of the more shy youngsters grow throughout the day. Important issues such as behaviour, consideration for others and how to enjoy a happy, successful time in senior school were all successfully conveyed to the young people in a 'fun' environment."
Deputy Head, Crispin Secondary School, Street.

ARTS WEEK

We were commissioned by Brookside Primary School in Street to devise an "Arts Week", that would involve the whole school. This required an enormous amount of planning to ensure that all 13 classes ( 390 children) had exciting things to do all week. The whole Arts Week was based on "colour", with each class being either Red, Blue or Yellow. Each dance & drama piece was created around this "colour theme" and we compiled CD's with dance music pieces and also other mood pieces that fitted into the "feel" of the 3 primary colours, for each classroom. We ran workshops using drama, voice, dance & percussion (with the Rhythm Factory) in the hall and the children made scenery, costumes and props in their classrooms. We also produced very lengthy Teachers' Notes with ideas for poetry, prose, voice, badge-making and art & craft activities for each class to undertake in their colour groups. On the Friday afternoon, the week culminated in 2 performances by the children, watched by their parents, which included dance, poetry, drama and a parade. The week went incredibly well and the school felt it had been very satisfying and stimulating for all the children. We are now adding "Arts Week" to the workshops that we can offer to mainstream schools, and hope to undertake more in the future. "Children's World's running of Arts Week brought the whole school together brilliantly. There were masses of different activities and Notes provided that brought out and developed the skills of all the pupils and supported the teachers. The whole school was buzzing all week, and it came to a fantastic climax with two shows full of costumes, poetry, dance, drama, music, video, percussion and colour that the parents could share in."
Head Teacher, Brookside Primary School, Street.

OTHER WORKSHOPS FOR MAINSTREAM SCHOOLS

We undertook several other workshops in mainstream schools this year which included Team Challenge Workshops, Peer Pressure Workshops & Games Training Sessions for Lunchtime Assistants. 350 child-sessions. All of these continue to be very successful, and we hope to undertake many more in the coming year.