Although the closure of schools in March 2020 had a big impact on Explore, all schools were all able to participate in some part of their planned programme.
Theatre in Schools Scotland performances
Luckily, many of the Explore schools had received a Theatre in Schools Scotland visit prior to Covid-19. Teachers were able to select shows to be performed into their schools from the TiSS programme, and 1,583 children enjoyed a production in their own school hall, including:
- Cloud Man – 8 performances in 4 schools, 693 children
- Mikey and Addie – 9 performances in 7 schools, 570 children
- WhirlyGig – 4 performances in 2 schools, 320 children.
Through a closer involvement with Imaginate, three schools also took the opportunity to host a further production from the Theatre in Schools Scotland programme and a further 415 children saw Slug.
CLPL for Teachers
9 CLPL sessions took place involving 100 staff from ten of the schools. These sessions were led by Creative Learning artists and focused on Imaginate’s Talking About Theatre resource. The aim was to encourage exploration of the productions seen in school and at their planned visit to the Edinburgh International Children's Festival.
Festival visit
The Children's Festival which was due to take place in May 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19. While schools were therefore not able to have a Festival visit, they were all subsequently offered further opportunities in 2020-21 to complement their Explore programme.