Primary 6 children in Bowhouse PS have been thoroughly engaged with their Callendar House Performance Project “Callendar House’s History Most Horrible – The Battle”. This interdisciplinary learning experience involved collaboration between their teacher Mrs Marsh, and colleagues from Falkirk Council Growth, Planning, Sport and Culture team and Illuminate UK. This project helped the children to develop knowledge and skills in drama, performance, social studies and their local heritage.

The project began with an introductory visit to Callendar House and a tour which focused on the elements of the house’s history which linked with their performance script. Victoria and Keira from Illuminate then provided drama and performance skills workshops and led rehearsals with the children in their roles.   The children enjoyed learning about the components of a strong performance – considering voice, movement and the importance of presenting information confidently. They put lots of effort into learning their lines (with the support of family and friends).  This creative project-based learning experience came together in a performance for guests and families. The following feedback from some of the children captures the value and impact of this collaboration for learning.

Callendar House was great and very posh!  It’s a very big house and there was lots of luxury things to see.  They showed us a model of how much the house has grown from the olden days.  We like the games we play before we go on stage, especially ‘Zip, Zap, Boom’ – it’s so much fun!

Haylee and Lilymay

What we liked about the visit to Callendar House was that it was very interesting.  We have been so many times but never knew the story and now we do.  Victoria and Keira are very helpful with learning our script and giving us ideas to make our acting better.

Charlotte and Lily

The visit to Callendar House was good and we got to see lots of exhibits.  Our favourite part was the story of Mary Queen of Scots. We learned so much!  The warmup games are fun!  We are really enjoying our acting experience and our coaches, Victoria and Keira, are funny and nice!

Rosie and Jack

We walked around Callander House and played some games after the tour.  It’s a good place to visit!  We were given parts and a script and practised our roles until the end of the day.  I’m a judge, Robbie is a soldier and Oscar is a servant.  We were shown how to act out our characters before we practised on stage.  It’s great fun!

Nazar, Robbie and Oscar