Project Summary
- Co-Motion was a two year funded project, led by Culture Box Surrey, developed with Matthew Bourne’s internationally renowned dance company New Adventures, and Stopgap Dance company, world leaders in integrated dance.
- Two secondary schools and six SEN/D schools in Surrey committed to the project with the initial pilot which saw international dance companies New Adventures and Stopgap Dance Company work with the eight Surrey schools, between 2018 and 2020.
Successes
- The high-quality professional dance experiences brought to the programme by New Adventures and Stopgap had an inspirational impact on students and staff, and on the wider school communities when a sharing took place.
- There was significant qualitative evidence of positive impact on broader outcomes for participants, including confidence, behaviour and engagement beyond the actual programme sessions.
- The bespoke nature of the programme within each school, and the collaborative planning and pilot process, are key strengths of the programme.
- Where schools were able to give the time to invest in the Arts Award model it was a real benefit to the students, particularly when Arts Award was embedded within programme sessions.
- Teachers’ CPD appeared to work best when they were fully involved in the project and took part in sessions.
Challenges
- There were significant logistical, timetabling and communications challenges faced by partners with some schools. These were exacerbated by turnover of key school staff members across the duration of the programme. This resulted in significant extra work for partners.
- The COVID- 19 pandemic meant that the project ended before the Summer term as schools closed. Partner dance companies needed to furlough staff so some final
evaluation interviews were unable to take place. - Teachers are very busy, so communication, especially the speed of their response, could be quite slow.
- Inconsistent legacy expectations and outcomes across the schools. The project has inspired students and teachers involved but it is unclear, in some cases, if this has
translated to the rest of the school. - Conflicting priorities during busy periods of time at schools, dance companies and Surrey Arts.
Recommendations
- The pre-programme engagement and co-design process, involving schools, arts provider and facilitator (in this case Culture Box Surrey staff) should be replicated, and sufficient resource needs to be allocated to this pre-activity phase.
- Agreement and buy-in from each school’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT), including headteacher, at the commencement of the process is essential. As is strong and clear criteria of what is expected of key school staff early in the process.
- There should be one member of school staff responsible for programme liaison. This does not necessarily need to be a teacher.
- At least one member of school staff should sign up to CPD sessions prior to programme commencement.
- Key logistical details such as space, timetabling, and participants are essential but other details such as parking arrangements, support staff and the quality of the activity space are also important as they communicate the value being placed on the programme.
- Professional photography and/or film making should be incorporated into the programme.
- The evaluation process should be designed, costed and embedded at the start of the programme.
- A ‘wash-up’ session for all key partners at appropriate points during the programme timeline will improve programme quality.
- Where schools already have Arts Award embedded, Arts Award activity should still be incorporated within sessions led by visiting professional arts practitioners, with time allocated for students to compile evidence.
- Post-programme support for schools, in the form of CPD, classroom resources, and where possible an ongoing relationship with the arts provider can enhance impact considerably.
Full Evaluation
A full evaluation has been undertaken by independent consultant Lunella Russell, and this is now available to download here.