I'm launching a Kindy class for pre-schoolers!

Thursdays are a busy day of Drama for me, I run a lovely lunch class at St James R.C. Primary school in Petts Wood, then have a few hours to kill before I visit our Drama classes in Biggin Hill and or Sevenoaks. So a few weeks ago I decided to park near Queensway, Petts Wood and treat myself to a sneaky cappuccino and sandwich at Café Dolce Vita before making my way down to Biggin Hill library.

Not only does this café serve a lovely selection of gourmet cakes and coffee (I was strong on this occasion and resisted a cake) but has devoted the top corner of its premises to a kids play area so local parents and carers can have a well-earned cuppa while their children play.

After chatting to the café's owner, Marco, I found that they also run activities for pre-schoolers and we agreed to start our Kindy drama classes there, which would complement the singing, dance and art activities already on offer.

A typical Kindy lesson includes children singing a familiar ‘Hello Song’; activities to encourage children to speak with each other and their teacher; speech exercises, to develop strong projected voices with clear articulation and expression and a movement segment so little ones can discover other ways of communicating.

The main part of each lesson develops these skills further, making them into a story with music, a short ‘play’ or a series of high impact activities children can identify with. As listening skills are also important, each lesson has listening time.

The culmination of the lesson, just before the ‘Goodbye Song’ is the Special Surprise Bag which could contain anything from a hot water bottle to a carton of popcorn!

I am delighted to now provide pre-school classes in our area. Having seen young children develop so much in our primary classes, the opportunity to introduce them to our programme from the age of two and a half is indeed exciting. We already improve basic speech, language and communication skills through our unique and affordable programme and now we can extend this to pre-school children.  

Our Kindy class will launch at Café Dolce Vita on Tuesday, 7th April at 10:30am – 11am for 2½ to 5 year olds and will cost just £3.50 a session.  After that classes will be held weekly on Monday mornings 10:30 – 11am.  The summer term will run from Monday, 20th April – Monday, 13th July 2015.  This excludes the bank holidays so that there will be 11 sessions in total. Our summer term themes are: NUMBERS, NURSERY RHYMES & FAIRY TALES, NIGHT & DAY and SPORTS and I'm really looking forward to having lots of fun with the children and parents that take part.  

If you're interested in joining up your child, please call my office on 01689 812336 or email bromley@helenogrady.co.uk.  Booking is advised as spaces are limited.  I look forward to seeing you there!

Helen 

Helen Walls, Principal.  

Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Bromley, Gravesend and Sevenoaks

www.dramaBWK.co.uk

www.helenogrady.co.uk

Facebook:  Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Bromley, Gravesend & Sevenoaks

  

Free Drama Workshops For Local Schools

Yesterday I visited St Thomas' Catholic Primary School in Sevenoaks to deliver a taster of our developmental drama classes to its pupils.  I had a really great time; the staff and students at St Thomas's are always really friendly and welcoming.  They are also really receptive to our drama programme and very supportive of the classes we run there after school on Thursdays.  

Throughout the year, I visit a variety of local primary schools to provide free drama workshops lasting between 30 minutes and 1 hour.  Each class that I see participates in a sample lesson from our programme, which is designed to:

  * DEVELOP ONGOING CONFIDENCE  * BUILD SELF ESTEEM

  * BE EMPOWERED VERBALLY  * ENCOURAGE ATTENTIVE LISTENING   

  * MAKE NEW FRIENDS  * GROW CREATIVELY  * ACT IN PLAYS     * HAVE BAGS OF FUN!

These aims are achieved through a highly developed, original, drama programme. Each lesson is carefully planned. A typical lesson can include introductory activities, speech, verbal dynamics, creative movement, mimes to music, language development, structured improvisation, dialogue development, snippets, a play, scene starters and mini-scripts.  

During the time I spent at St Thomas's yesterday, with a little imaginative thinking, some creative ideas and language we turned the school hall into a waxwork museum and a stadium for motorbike champions.   

I always encourage the teaching staff to watch and participate in the workshop with their class.  Teachers will often comment on how much they and their class have enjoyed the session.  It is sometimes an eye-opener for them to see how students who may be quiet in the setting of the classroom react differently and more confidently within the structure of the drama session.  

Next week I am visiting two Primary schools in Bickley and very much look forward to working with them.  

Helen

Helen Walls, 

Principal 

Dress up days cheer up a wet, stormy autumnal week...

This week our Primary aged drama students in Bromley, Gravesend and Sevenoaks have been dressing up at class.  It's been a lot of fun and has certainly cheered up what has been a rather wet and stormy week.  I think we've certainly said goodbye to the sun for the time being!

Our Lower Primary Classes (5 - 8 years) have been invited to come to class as 'grown ups' this week.  We've seen over-sized handbags, moustaches, walking sticks, blazers, flat caps and many other items that have been raided from a parent's wardrobe or two.  The play-acting that has ensued in class has been extremely entertaining for both my teaching staff and me.  The children were absorbed by their characters and relished in pretending to be like their parents.  

Our Upper Primary students (8 - 11 years) have enjoyed dressing up for a play called, "I've Been Robbed".  Set in a cabaret-style nightclub, characters have included the waiting staff, the manager, the resident band and the club's clientele.  The students have been really creative with their props and costumes.  Feather boa's have been wafted, trays have been offered and we even saw a variety of instruments being played at our class in Hayes on Tuesday.  

So, why do we do these ‘dress up days’?  Executive Principal, Alison Mazanec of the Academy in Bristol said this week, "Well, you know yourself you feel different if you are dressed up for a special occasion, right? Children are the same. If they are using or wearing a simple prop, they can easily become a different character and then learn about what it's like to be in their situation by talking to each other. In fact, some children become more confident as someone else and if we encourage them to speak to each other and us, we can explore their communicative skills and build their confidence."



It's been a wonderful week of fun at class and such a pleasure to see our students grow and develop their skills.   

I thoroughly look forward to the next dress up days in a few weeks time.  

Helen

Helen Walls, 

Principal

Helen O'Grady Drama Academy Bromley, Gravesend & Sevenoaks.  

  

    

HOW TO DRAMATICALLY DEVELOP A HAPPY INDIVIDUAL!

We live in an exciting world of technology where computers abound in most homes and schools, where many children have become more computer literate than their parents and schools have large budgets to develop technology. Within this fast-moving world, many children lack the essential communication skills to push themselves forward. Success later in life is often dependent on our development as a child.  Developing sound verbal communication skills, in the early years, where we are able to put our case forward in this ever demanding world is paramount to unlocking the world in which we live.

Releasing a child’s creative and expressive potential through drama is a key to a child’s healthy development. By developing children’s confidence and self-esteem, the curriculum of the Helen O’Grady Drama Academy allows each and every child to fulfil their potential by developing verbal communication skills in a fun-filled environment.

This week, our classes resume at Orpington Methodist Church, Hayes Primary School, Hayes Old Church Schools, Shortlands St Mary's Church, Sevenoaks St Thomas' Catholic Primary, Petts Wood Southborough Primary, Gravesend St John's Catholic Comprehensive School, Chislehurst Library & Sevenonaks Leisure Centre.  We very much look forward to welcoming all our new and returning students for a term of dynamic and exciting drama.  

For more information about our classes call 01689 812336 or 07587 006176.  You can email us on bromley@helenogrady.co.uk and visit our branch website www.dramabwk.co.uk.  

National website: www.helenogrady.co.uk

Drama in Bromley, Gravesend and Sevenoaks!

This week, students of the Helen O'Grady Drama Academy in Bromley, Gravesend and Sevenoaks are back at class and having lots of fun.

The lower primary children will be working on a different play each week. The children will be playing many roles from pirates to aliens!

All upper primary classes have a selection of improvisations and mini-scripts this term. Their plays will be set in destinations such as The South Pole and Mexico! Mini-scripts allow each child to develop their own creativity and imagination as well as linking in the speech work we cover each week. 

Each primary class will also be acting out Mimes to Music, pretending to be Marionettes or on a Hunt.  

Our Youth Theatres students have a varied curriculum this term. As well as the all important voice work, students will be able to demonstrate creative ability via improvisation, experimenting with various theatre games, script work and working individually on some challenging monologues.  

We all look forward to another exciting term!  

If you would like your child to join our popular drama programme that helps children of all ages to perform, learn to speak well, develop skills to help them on leaving school, and have great fun, then give us a call to book a Free Trial.  

01689 812336  

email: bromley@helenogrady.co.uk

website: www.dramabwk.co.uk

National website: www.helenogrady.co.uk.  

 

The Sleepover!

Here are some of our students who attend the Northfleet Helen O'Grady Class on Saturdays having fun !!! The class dressed up for a play called "The Sleepover" which descended into a huge pillow fight ! You can see one of the children is playing 'Mum' and looking on disapprovingly. Kirsty, the class teacher said "It was lovely - they all came in pjs and dressing gowns with pillows and blankets!"

GRAVESEND & DISTRICT THEATRE GUILD PRESENT.....Guys and Dolls

LOCAL NEWS

THE GRAVESEND & DISTRICT THEATRE GUILD PRESENT.....Guys and Dolls

23-26 March 2011

7.30pm

The OWG Centre

Hamley Road

Dartford

DA1 1PX

Box Office 07981 792101

www.gravesendtheatreguild.org

Guys and Dolls has music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, it is loosely based on Damon Runyon’s short stories "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure". It premiered on Broadway in 1950, ran for 1,200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. A film version was made in 1955 starring Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra. There was tension between the two stars, as Sinatra had wanted to play Sky, and not Nathan. Sinatra got his revenge afterwards by recording the songs Sky sings in the show. A comic morality tale set to a hot jazz score, “Guys and Dolls” is a New York love-story filled with memorable songs including “Luck Be A Lady” and “Sit Down You’re Rockin’ The Boat”.

Set in the shadier parts of 1950s New York frequented by gangsters and racketeers lead by Nathan Detroit, who, with his sidekicks, Nicely-Nicely Johnson and Benny Southstreet are desperate to find somewhere to hold their next crap game. Nathan's fiancée, Adelaide a singer at The Hot Box club, hates the crap game almost as much as Lt. Brannigan, who tries to foil Nathan's efforts. Sister Sarah Brown of the Save-a-Soul Mission is trying to get the gamblers to lead better lives but is finding it hard going and the Mission is under threat of closure.

Sky Masterson, the renowned womaniser and gambler, is in town and Nathan needs to find $1000 to hire Biltmore's Garage for the crap game. In an attempt to get the money he bets Sky $1000 that he cannot persuade a "Doll" of Nathan's choosing to go with him to Cuba. Sky thinks he is onto a winner until Nathan chooses Sister Sarah as the "Doll"! Sky uses his charm and persuades Sarah to go to Havana, promising to provide twelve sinners for the Mission. Meanwhile, in her absence the gamblers use the Mission for the game, but everything is spoiled when Lt. Brannigan arrives.

The next night, at the insistence of Big Jule a hustler from Chicago, Nathan is forced to hold the game in the only place left – the sewer! Trouble develops when Big Julie proceeds to cheat Nathan out of all the money he has made from setting up the game. Sky arrives and offers to play dice with the men. If he loses, they each get a thousand dollars - if they lose, they must attend the midnight prayer meeting at the Mission.

Sky wins, the gamblers attend the meeting and the Mission is saved. Adelaide and Sarah meet by chance and decide on a strategy to get their “Guys” and a happy ending is in sight.