What do we do? Our Education and Outreach strand is based on the belief that creativity is a crucial aspect of our identity, and one that should be nurtured and given space to flourish throughout life. Our vision is that if openness to imaginative and creative processes is carefully cultivated, such thinking can become integral to our way of life. KSDT strives to work with people of all ages to harness a naturally present desire to explore and understand the world, channeling it through the creative mediums of dance, theatre, movement and play.
What We Do
Rushmore Primary School – Change School – A New Direction
We are currently doing a project with Rushmore Primary School who are part of a three year Change School initiative which is managed by A New Direction and funded by Creative Partnerships.
Over the past half term we have delivered an exciting dance theatre project called Aspirations Through Movement. The project has focused on working with year two students, their families and teachers to develop a performance with professional artists which will be shown at the Rich Mix on the 12th June
Transformation Fund: KSDT are currently the Co-Programme Leader for Creative Junction and Slough Borough Council’s Learning Revolution Transformation Fund. This is an informal adult learning scheme working with 16 organisations on 10 adult learning projects throughout Slough.
www.sloughlearningrevolution.co.uk 
Children Together: Kieran is currently developing a project called Children Together with iceandfire which uses his movement practice to develop family cohesion, relaxation, socialisation and language skills within refugee and asylum seeker families. To read more about this project please follow this link: www.iceandfire.co.uk/participation/children-together
What we’ve DONE:
- CP West Sussex at Fordwater School using drama and story telling to improve the learning of key stage three and four children with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Special Schools
Fordwater Special School: How can we effectively deliver our curriculum and use our school environment more creatively through performing arts?
Fordwater is a special school with students with severe learning and physical disabilities. The Starfish Class (Key Stage 2) was identified as having real difficulty in working collaboratively and were chosen to work on this project. Students were involved from the outset in the recruitment process through which Kieran Sheehan, a dance practitioner, was appointed to work on the project. Through dance and experimentation with the use of props and multi-sensory stimuli (water, for example), Kieran led staff and students through an exploration of performance as a means to accessing story-telling and experiential learning. Kieran also worked with staff to develop the use of the sensory room more creatively for students with profound and moderate learning difficulties (PMLD) through drama techniques. Part of the legacy of this project was the development of a ‘toolkit of ideas’ for teachers; a written record of techniques used during the project and suggestions as to how staff and students might develop these together. Two films have also been produced to document the project from the point of view of both student groups.
- CP Northamptom at Loatlands Primary School using new media and dance to develop creative writing amongst key stage two children who noted as high achievers.
- CP Birmingham at Cotteridge Junior and Infants School exploring the function of outdoor learning in Early Years and Foundation Stage and constructing an outdoor instillation.
The company has also worked for an organisation called Multistory delivering ‘Dance and Movement’ to Early Years settings in Sandwell and Dudley between 2007 and 2009. KSDT delivered the teacher training aspect of the Sandwell based programme called Time To Talk educating teachers on the use of creativity within their setting.
KSDT encourage a constant reflective process, documenting their progress, particularly focusing on the emotional growth of the group and their role within this, allowing the development process to be conscious for the participating young people.
Projects At Your Setting:
KSDT are happy to provide the following services:
- Movement and Dance activities for Under 5s
- Creative Movement and Dance Residencies for any age group and community setting
- Creativity Training for Primary School Teachers & Teaching Assistants
- Creative Supervision and management for participatory arts projects
- Business Innovation and Critical Thinking Workshops
Please note that Cope and My Name Is Outreach and Participation is not considered part of our education department, please refer to the KSDT Production page for information about this service.
Contact:
education@kieransheehan.com
