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nicola@caboodlearts.com

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energetic and creative educational programming

Bringing learning to life

The expert team at Caboodle understands just how hard formative primary years are, so we’ve designed workshops and performances that help raise awareness and understanding of everything from cyber-bullying to global equality.

Dying To Fit In, our KS2 Anti-bullying performance.

Stopping bullying in its tracks

School should be a positive experience that excites young minds and encourages growth, but it’s hard to promote learning when your pupils are dealing with bullying on the playground. The expert team at Caboodle understands just how hard these formative years are, so we’ve designed workshops and performances that help raise awareness and understanding on everything from playground teasing to cyber bullying. Our programmes explore differences, acceptance, and cooperation in a safe environment, which enables pupils to reach their own conclusions, access new ideas, and find more respectful and effective ways to communicate.

Our Anti-Bullying Performances

Every year Caboodle develops a new anti-bullying programme, in line with the Anti-Bullying campaign of the year. Our performances cover topics such as verbal bullying, bullying of vulnerable pupils and cyber-bullying. Experience has taught us that drama is a powerful way to show the effects of bullying and to give pupils the necessary tools to overcome it on the playground and beyond.

A Little Respect!

Alexa is thoroughly fed up. She is sick and tired of having to sit quietly on the side and listen to the disrespectful way her humans speak to one another. She’s also had enough of the lack of respect the humans show her. It’s time to teach them a lesson. So using her virtual reality ‘magic’ she transports our two characters into her world, where they are trapped. Their only way out is to follow the challenges that Alexa sets, make the right decisions and find their way back home. They can only do this when they choose respect....but how long will it take our characters to figure this out?

Dying To Fit In

Prim is starting a new school. She feels ‘different’ to the other pupils and worries what people will think of her. Her worse fears are realized when Courtney and her crew begin the merciless teasing. Prim will do anything to fit in with this new group...even when she knows what she is doing is wrong. The performance allows pupils to consider the need to ‘fit in’ and question themselves as to how much they would be prepared to change or compromise themselves in order to do so.

Making it Better

Commander Codswollop is about to embark on another mission – this time to Planet Earth. As usual he is over confident and doesn’t think he needs anyone’s help! However, he soon discovers that his assistant, Deputy Dog-Ear, proves rather helpful in ensuring that his mission is a success. This is a great fun performance that clearly shows how bullying can stop a person from achieving their full potential and how working together, we can help to stamp out bullying. Over the course of the mission, Commander Codswollop learns, with the help of your pupils, that he has been a bit of a bully himself. Thankfully he manages to put this right before completing the mission and returning home.

This performance looks at the nature of bullying and its effect on achievement but deliberately uses a light touch to better engage your pupils.

The Power Within

Written to support the theme for 2016, this performance looks at how constant bullying can negatively label a person so much so that they begin to believe the labels. The performance encourages the character, and your pupils, to have faith in themselves and be proud of their own unique identity. In addition to finding that power within we also show the power we have when we work together.

This performance looks at the nature of bullying and its effect upon achievement, but deliberately uses a light touch to better engage your pupils.

Fitting in

This is a fun performance that shows pupils how ridiculous it would be if we were all the same. Our main character is off on an adventure to explore new lands! On her journey, she stumbles across a place called Concordia where she meets a group of people that are all the same, ruled over by a bully of a Queen. Thanks to our intrepid adventurer and your pupils the Queen learns the valuable lesson that difference is a great thing and everyone is equal despite their differences.

Cry Baby Carly

Cyber-bullying is the subject of this hard-hitting masked performance that depicts Carly's struggles, allowing pupils to witness the impact and heartache of online bullying.

Speaking Out

A fun & light-hearted show with a serious central message; it's not easy to speak up about bullying, but this performance shows the benefits of doing so, while suggesting ways to make it easier, empowering your pupils to make a noise about bullying.

INTENSIVE FOLLOW-ON SUPPORT

We believe that teaching every pupil to respect others is key to stopping bullying both in school and beyond. With inclusive workshops from Caboodle, we help your school develop effective anti-bullying strategies and solutions by exploring the issues of difference and encouraging cooperation. Using effective exercises, we’ll encourage your pupils to:

Take responsibility
Acknowledge and celebrate difference
Develop team building and cooperation skills
Develop tools for conflict resolution

TEAM-BUILDING WORKSHOPS

When pupils work together successfully, bullying doesn’t have a chance to thrive. Caboodle’s team-building workshops are specifically geared towards teaching pupils to communicate, share, and discuss with each other, all in a safe environment that promotes understanding and compassion. Some of the issues we cover include:

Listening and communication
Positive feedback, cooperation, and trust
Understanding other’s needs and respecting their opinions
The importance of encouragement

Man in a cow costume shaking hands with a woman

Celebrating the richness and diversity of other cultures

At Caboodle, we believe in celebrating multiculturalism and cultural identities from around the globe, so we’ve created a wide range of workshops and performances to help broaden your pupils’ world view. From our workshops regarding American icons like Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman to the ever popular “Saada’s Gift” and “Anansi & His Web of Stories”, we’ll help teach pupils about the richness and diversity that can be found within different cultures.

OUR BLACK HISTORY PERFORMANCES

Any performance from our Black History programme can be booked either as a standalone performance or as a package with comprehensive follow-on support. Caboodle's current offering of Black History performances includes:

Striking Back

In the 1940’s baseball was broken into Negro Leagues and Major Leagues, and no player had ever crossed from one league to the other. Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers changed that by adding one special player to his team – Jackie Robinson. Our performance tells the story of this brave black baseball player who, despite much opposition, took the step into the unknown and in doing so, made history.

Moses In The Making

Take your pupils on a journey through the life of Harriet Tubman, from her birth into Slavery, to gaining her freedom and becoming a modern-day Moses. This performance teaches your pupils about her incredible life, leaving them with lasting respect and admiration for her incredible achievements in the face of adversity.

Building Bridges

This show tells the story of Ruby Bridges, an extraordinary little girl who played a crucial role in building bridges between all-white and all-black communities. At 6 years old, she became the first black child to attend an all-white school. Our performance shows the prejudice she faced, and how through her innocence – and a few good people – she overcame everything and helped society take that all-important step towards integration.

Saada’s Gift

A unique piece of storytelling theatre that transports your pupils to the African plains, where they will learn about the animals, fauna and traditional African tales along the way.

Ellen Craft

This performance tells the story of Ellen Craft. Born as a mixed-race slave, Ellen's skin was so pale that as a child she was mistaken for white, something that enraged her mistress! Our performance tells of her escape to freedom, through disguising herself as an old white gentleman.

Anansi & his Web of Stories

The Anansi stories, drawn traditionally from tales of the Ashanti people of Ghana delight their audience with their huge energy and sense of fun – as does this performance! We have combined several stories with original music to produce an engaging and fun performance that will captivate all ages.

SPECIALISED WORKSHOPS & ASSEMBLIES

Diversity & Prejudice Workshops
These workshops encourage all pupils to accept difference, whether of religion, race, sexuality or gender, providing an opportunity for them to explore, debate and celebrate issues such as Empathy, Diversity, acceptance, Peer Pressure and Co-operation. The use of drama allows exploration of these challenging topics in a safe environment, enabling pupils to tackle sensitive issues and empower them to reach their own conclusions.

Mary Seacole (Living History Workshop)
This a living history workshop, delivered by ‘Mary Seacole’ to a class of pupils at a time. She tells your pupils her story, allowing them to see first-hand what a feisty and independent woman she was and how she earnt her reputation as the black Florence Nightingale. Together with your pupils, journey from Jamaica to the Crimea and then to England, getting involved in some of the chores that Mary herself had done.

Hidden Hope programme
This program starts with a storytelling assembly that tells the story of one slave family on the run to freedom and explains how the underground railroad worked as an escape route through the use of quilts and the symbols are sewn into them. The follow on workshops can be either art or drama based. The art workshops look at the symbols and patterns the slaves used and your pupils can re-create these either through printing or produce fabric symbols that Caboodle will sew into a beautiful wall hanging for the school.

Follow on drama workshops allow pupils to explore elements of the story encouraging them to empathise more with the experiences of the characters and the prejudice they faced during this time.

General Workshops

Cultural Art
Very practical, hands-on workshops that allow pupils to explore different art forms and techniques that originate from Black Cultures. The aim is that pupils will learn about the particular art technique before going on to create their own piece of artwork or a collective piece for display within your school.

Take One Poem

The words of a poem or the lyrics from a song give us the starting point for an exploration of Black History. Through the use of drama games and exercises, devising and improvisation pupils can explore more deeply the stories that lie behind and understand more fully the characters and experiences that have been recorded.

Exploring British Values with creative performances

Teaching and breaking down complex concepts such as law, democracy, and tolerance to pupils can be tricky, but they are key components that make up the very fabric of modern Britain. Help pupils to grasp British Values with interactive and fun workshops from the experts at Caboodle. We’ll get your pupils involved and thinking critically about their own outlook on life by breaking down complex issues into easy-to-understand performances and discussions.

AIN’T BRITAIN GREAT? - QUESTIONING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BRITISH

Ali doesn’t like doing what’s she’s told or being constantly reminded to think of others and take responsibility. Wanting Ali to learn the true meaning of British values, Aunty Beryl transports her to a series of parallel universes where different rules apply. Ali discovers that a world without rules or values isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

With plenty of opportunities for your pupils to get involved in the action, Ain't Britain Great? is an energetic performance from Caboodle, offering a lively introduction to British Values by showing what can happen without them.

COMPLETE FOLLOW-UPS AND WORKSHOP SUPPORT

While “Ain’t Britain Great” works as a stand-alone performance to stimulate ideas and discussions in the classroom, Caboodle recommends pairing it with one of our follow-on workshops to truly cement the concepts in the minds of your pupils. Our additional sessions will explore all issues raised through games, exercises and discussions in order to reinforce the true meaning of British Values.

Traditional tales with a modern edge

Pantomime is a cherished part of British culture and the highlight of the festive season for many children. At Caboodle, we enjoy making panto accessible for everyone by putting modern twists on traditional tales. Our performances enable your pupils to experience a Christmas panto in a cost-effective and comfortable environment, and our modern-day interpretations make for fun-filled and energetic productions.

Cinderella

Meet MC Fool and DJ Cool who are in charge of the entertainment at the Grand Ball at the Palace and Fairy Godmother aka Magic Makeover, the queen of make-overs. Pupils will love Cinderella and her ugly sisters; the bossy, buxom one with the strangely silent, skinny sister. Join us for a feast of festive fun, silly songs and disappearing cakes in a production that retains all the elements of traditional pantomime but with the Caboodle twist.

Sleeping Beauty & The Cursed Comb

Another traditional story with our own modern twist - after all, who has a spinning wheel in this day and age? It's all done on the I-Spin! The wicked fairy, Grimelda has been left off the invitation list to the christening of the Princess. In return to being forgotten, her gift to the Princess is a curse! And so begins the fight between good and evil! Thank goodness for handsome princes and love conquering all!

Jack's Giant Adventure

A traditional Jack and the Beanstalk story (sort of) with our own modern twist. Jack is sent off to market with the family cow and returns with a handful of beans which grow into a giant beanstalk, but luckily for them, the giant that lives at the top of the beanstalk just wants to belong somewhere and be able to grow his vegetables!

Mother Goose

Back by popular demand, our hugely successful pantomime Mother Goose has returned! Mother Goose and her son Billy are having a tough time, with the recession hitting the farm hard. Facing eviction, Mother Goose remains generous to a fault, with her kindness soon rewarded in style by Fairy Feelgood... This old age battle between good and bad is full of laughs for pupils and teachers alike.

Aladdin

A traditional fun-filled pantomime, set in China's old Peking. Aladdin is infatuated with the Emperor's daughter, but as a lowly commoner doesn’t have a hope of looking at her let alone marrying her! His mother Widow Twanky and simple brother, Wishee Washee just about get by running the local laundry. But could their fortunes be about to change? Who is this strange man that claims to be Uncle Abanazar....and what is this old lamp he seems so intent on retrieving from the cave? Another adventure where good conquers evil, with plenty of laughs along the way.

Dick Whittington

Sarah the Cook and her two sons, Billy Bun and Dick, are down on their luck. Unable to pay their rent and in need of work they pack up and head to London, where the streets are paved with gold, apparently, somewhere under all the rubbish and dirt! Join them on their adventure as they team up with a cat, imaginatively called ‘Cat’, and Alderman Fitzwarren, as they work together to outwit the evil and greedy King Rat. Another great show full of festive fun & frolics!

Bringing social and global issues to the Classroom

There’s a lot going on in the world today and trying to mould current events from the nightly news into appropriate lesson plans for young minds is not always easy. The experts at Caboodle utilise the power of drama to help children to understand human behaviour. By challenging pupils to place themselves in the shoes of others, they can explore the similarities and differences that make each culture unique. We explore issues such as childhood obesity, the environment and the refugee crisis. Our interactive programmes will encourage your pupils to take a real interest in what’s going on in the world and provide them with a well-rounded educational experience.

ENCOURAGE A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE WITH ALL'S WELL THAT EATS WELL

All's Well that Eats Well works to promote a healthy lifestyle and diet for Key Stages 1 & 2. Caboodle has designed this fun and amusing performance to teach your pupils the importance of adopting a balanced diet in life. Set inside a human body, All's Well that Eats Well will introduce your pupils to Brigadier Brain Box and Major Messenger, two characters responsible for the smooth running of Boy, who suffers from poor concentration, lack of sleep, sugar rushes and lethargy due to a poor diet lacking in vitamins and fibre. This performance supports the Citizenship and PSHE curricula, acting as a springboard for further discussion and research in the classroom.

Inspirational performances to bring the curriculum to life

Caboodle’s approach to effectively presenting a range of curricular material is all about instilling a sense of excitement in children that encourages a lifelong love of learning. We offer an extensive range of performances and workshops that use drama games, exercises, and other techniques to engage young minds in an educational and fun environment.

Transition Workshops

Transition workshops explore issues associated with the move to Secondary School. This can be a daunting prospect, so we focus on the many positive aspects as well as issues of concern, and by working with secondary schools, we can offer a worthwhile experience to pupils both before and after the transfer.

Our workshops prepare pupils for some of the emotional and social aspects of moving to secondary school, looking to improve their self-esteem and confidence and helping them make smart choices about the process. To achieve this we use different drama games and exercises, Forum Theatre techniques and Image Theatre.

We can deliver this programme as a half day, full day or multi-day workshop with the possibility of culminating in a performance presentation of their work.

We will devise these workshops to suit the particular needs of your schools and of your pupils.

Public Speaking & Debate

Caboodle can tailor public speaking and debate workshops to help raise speaking and listening skills, building pupil confidence in a public presentation and raising the standards of communication within your school. Our workshops aim to teach the importance of debate and public speaking in a fun and stimulating way. They encourage your pupils to present their own views in a mature manner, giving them the ability to explain their position on a subject in a thoughtful way while being respectful of others' opinions. We teach pupils how to listen and respond, both to words and body language, and how to use their own body language to good effect.

Using a series of drama games and exercises these workshops would cover some or all of the following aspects:

Preparing to speak through Relaxation, Breathing & Posture techniques
Diction & Body Language
Vocal projection and the Power of the Pause (Pitch & Pace)
Working as a team to produce Ensemble presentation pieces
Use of Emphasis and Facial Expression
Developing Tone of Voice in a creative way to draw in an audience

Make maths fun with arithmagic

Set in the magical land of Abracadavia, Professor Pollando is one of the most powerful and highly respected wizards in all the land. He has earned his reputation by successfully completing various quests set by the Great High Wizard. But he has not undertaken one in many years, a fact which some suspect is down to his fear of maths. But now he must face his demons, and with the help of your pupils, Professor Pollando can overcome his fear of maths and learn it can even be fun.

Suitable for both Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils, our Arithmagicshow involves a lot of audience participation and will engage all pupils, regardless of skill level. Caboodle also offers follow-on workshops and support to further get your pupils thinking.

Allons-y! A World of French Awaits

There is no better way to learn a second language than when you're young, so get your pupils introduced into the possibilities of modern foreign languages with Allons-y! our entirely French-speaking performance.

Using repetition, illustration and an interactive backdrop, Allons-y! has been specially designed by Caboodle to put pupils at ease and to get them engaging with French. Aimed primarily at Key Stage 2, Allons-y! is also suitable for Key Stage 1 pupils of every skill level. Caboodle can also provide french-speaking workshops for your school, either as a follow-up or standalone session.

PPA COVER TO ENHANCE CREATIVE LEARNING

Caboodle offers PPA cover to give valuable cover time to teachers while providing high-quality creative arts workshops for your pupils. Whatever your curricular focus, our workshops can be tailored to ensure that your pupils’ learning will be enhanced, providing a fresh approach and injecting creativity into the curriculum.

At Caboodle, we use drama, art, music and dance to inspire pupils’ imaginations and stimulate their desire to learn. We work to engage all pupils, regardless of age or skill level, so you can be assured that we will work to maintain continuity and quality in your pupils’ learning experience. Caboodle is fully flexible and can work around the needs of your school and teachers in order to ensure seamless and fruitful collaboration.

INSET TRAINING

Caboodle INSET Training for performing & creative arts is based on many years of experience working within primary schools. Our workshops are fun and practical sessions designed to inspire teachers and raise confidence in delivering Creativity in the Curriculum. We off training as a full day, half day and twilight sessions.

Drama

Many teachers worry that, because drama is a specialized subject they may be ill-equipped to use it confidently to enhance and enrich the delivery of their lessons. Our experience of working in primary schools is that by using interactive games and exercises, drama can be very successfully used to open up topics, explore aspects in more depth and to engage pupils who may not excel academically. For this reason, our sessions do not focus on role play. They are designed to create a fun and liberating environment where teachers are allowed to participate in the game, understand how they can be delivered and to inspire them to use what they have learnt in their everyday teaching.

Art

These sessions are practical, creative & fun. Teachers who have attended them have often commented on how therapeutic they found the day. Art workshops allow the teachers time to experiment in a way not usually open to them, inspiring their creativity which in turn will positively impact on their pupils.

The workshops can be focused on using specific materials or look at painting and drawing techniques through the use of different mediums. Through years of experience, we have discovered simple and cost-efficient techniques to open up new areas of art that will surprise your teachers and delight your pupils.

Through using some of these simple techniques we can also show you how to produce high quality and permanent works of art for your school. We encourage teachers to use their current resources within school more creatively and more ambitiously.

Dance & Creative Movement

Our dance INSET days will show your teachers that they do not have to be dancers to teach dance and creative movement to their pupils. We can teach basic moves that can be changed slightly to fit with different cultural styles. We show how to use dance as a form of story-telling, creating narrative through the physical movement and music.

We can structure the day to cover a number of different styles and/or periods of dance and to support different areas of the curriculum, e.g. history, fitness and health. These are practical, fun days; physically more demanding but very rewarding.

Literacy & Storytelling

The Caboodle approach to literacy and story-telling is to inspire pupils with the desire to create and tell their own stories and to have greater confidence in their ability to communicate clearly and persuasively in writing and in speech. We achieve this through our storytelling performances and their follow on workshops.

Our Stories

Once Upon A Time

An energetic and fun performance that celebrates traditional stories and fairy tales, bringing them to life through live theatre and music. The performance not only encourages a love of creative storytelling but will also support poetry, writing and narrative work, as well as providing a strong moral message that supports many aspects of the PSHE syllabus. Join the Ugly Duckling on his adventure to rescue Hansel & Gretel!

Save Our Stories

Story-Telling Land is a beautiful place where all the stories that ever were, or ever shall be, are born. The Story-Telling Tree is at the centre of this land and upon its branches grow all the stories. But all is not well in story-Telling Land, because the evil Story Snatcher has come to the land and snatched the stories. With the help of your pupils, we re-capture the lost stories through creativity and imagination. Through celebrating storytelling the tree begins to thrive once more.

If You Go Down The Woods Today...

A fun-filled adventure set in Fairytale Forest, where your pupils will meet many well known and much-loved characters. An action-packed adventure, performed by two actors and a lot of very quick changes! The Big Bad Wolf is once again up to no good, but thanks to the Good Fairy and your pupils, good conquers bad and order is restored!

Topsy Turvy

In this performance your pupils will once again meet some of their most loved characters from traditional stories – only they aren’t quite behaving as you might expect them to! The Bad Fairy is up to no good! Thanks to her Little Red Riding Hood has decided that blue is more her colour, Robin Hood thinks stealing from the poor to line the pockets of the Sheriff of Nottingham is a good thing and Snow White is ranting about ‘little men’ who can’t do anything for themselves!

talk to our team about educational programming

Call Caboodle Arts today!

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01163197861
nicola@caboodlearts.com

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01163197861

nicola@caboodlearts.com

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