Croxteth Speaks - See our pupils in action!

Big Dreams, Little Homes

Sixty Year seven students were selected in November to participate in the Croxteth Speaks Project. Set up by the female led All Things Considered Theatre. This project was designed to engage young people in our local area to celebrate the potential of the community and the individuals within it using the arts.

This has led to a number of innovative and exciting workshops for our students. The first being the “Big Dreams, Little Homes” project. Students spent the day working with an installation artist and the team from All Things Considered. A giant map of the local area was laid out on the floor and students were able to add their house to the map. Students loved toing this with some of them working out routes to each other’s homes and realising how connected they are to one another. 'As part of this project we spent a day at the school delivering arts activities with year 7 pupils. During the activities we discussed what it was like to come from the area, what they loved about it and what they wanted to improve. The girls came up with so many fantastic suggestions, like, how waste land could be turned into activity centres, a litter campaign and a retail park. They also shared loads of pride in their local area and where they come from' Sarah Hogarth (Croxteth Speaks Producer)

DJ Workshops

A smaller group of students were selected to work with an all female group of DJ’s: Girls Don’t Sync. This group started in Toxteth and have DJ’d all over the world. Wanting to inspire local young women to enter the music industry, their aim to “Make a sustainable change in the Music Industry”. During an interview for International women's day recently they said “Championing and helping other women and being able to do that with real impact is success to us”. They have certainly done that with 11 of our Year 7 students who have spent the last half term attending DJ workshops and learning the skills in running their own mixing desk. Rosie a year seven student told us 'Gaia is so nice, she is really funny and inspirational. I've learnt not only how to DJ but how to work with others and how to work in a professional environment and I will be able to use these skills in the future'

You can see more of what they got up to and watch a video of what they thought of the experience here: Croxteth Speaks: Role Models - YouTube

Commercial Dance

A group of 12 KS3 students have been working with a commercial dance artist Natasha Gooden for several weeks as part of the Croxteth Speaks Project. Students have learnt new techniques and experimented with dance. 'Working at St John Bosco has been amazing, it's been lovely to meet all these individual characters that shine so brightly, at first they were shy but each week they grew with confidence, they began to bond and became a brilliant company of dancers.' Natasha Gooden (Choreographer). Natasha has brought with her experience from the stage and screen that students have relished.

'Natasha is brilliant and has taught us loads about dance and just how to let it loose and to be ourselves and I would definitely like to continue doing dance in the future' Ruby Year 7.

Check out the fab finished result here: Croxteth Speaks: Safe Space - YouTube

Mrs Ellison, Head of Performing Arts, said “These creative projects are so valuable to our young people. Working with professionals gives our students unique experience of what a career in performing arts looks like and the changes they can make in their own communities and futures, our students have loved this experience”.

You can see more about the Croxteth Speaks project and the work our students have undertaken on their Instagram account @allthingsconsideredtheatre