Three different performances in a week for the creative Cockburn Multi-Academy Trust students!

This blog has been written in collaboration with Cockburn Multi Academy Trust (MAT), who prioritise cultural and creative arts experiences for their pupils. We are shining a light on the efforts of the school, in support of Child Friendly Leeds Wish 7.

Wish 7 – Children and young people know about things to do and places to go across the city. They enjoy different cultural experiences including art, music, sport and film.

Cockburn School in south Leeds has for a very long time been a “specialist school in the performing arts” as well as achieving excellence in all other aspects of school life. It was recognised by Ofsted in 2022 as being Outstanding in all areas. The growth of the Cockburn Multi-academy Trust has led to three secondary schools in the area providing an excellent education to their students and the creative arts and cultural curriculum offers are rich. The three schools are all within 10 minutes of each other which has enabled collaboration between staff and students to thrive.

The end of June/beginning of July saw three performances in a week involving students from the three Cockburn secondary schools.

On the Monday, Cockburn Laurence Calvert Academy hosted their annual Shakespeare Festival. Cockburn John Charles Academy students performed a hilarious “Love Island” version of Twelfth Night. Cockburn School performed a dark and angry version of Othello. Cockburn Laurence Calvert Academy performed Hamlet, set in a prison, with the “play within the play” being the Lion King (which is loosely based on the story of Hamlet. There were also spoken word and dance interpretations of Shakespeare plays in front of a packed audience.

On the Wednesday, students from all three schools (and also from Middleton Primary) headed to Leeds First Direct Arena to perform as part of the choirs at the ArtForms Leeds Youth Music Festival. Students from nearly 60 schools, representing all 33 wards of Leeds, performed in the choirs. There were also performances from youth orchestras, bands and ensembles across a range of different musical genres.

On the Thursday, the three secondary schools took over the main Quarry stage at Leeds Playhouse as part of their Open Season community project. This performance, titled ‘Together Means More’ celebrated the diversity of the students within South Leeds and the future of a United Leeds. Either through musical performances, dance pieces, drama work or spoken word, students explored and celebrated what makes them who they are and how they will create the future of their City. The students wanted to show everyone what the future of a ‘United Leeds’ will look and sound like.

At the end of the Leeds Playhouse show, in front of over 400 members of the audience and 200 students who had performed, David Gurney, Executive Headteacher of the Cockburn MAT, talked about how the show had fulfilled his dream of seeing the young people of south Leeds being united through the arts. He thanked the students, staff and parents/carers for their hard work and dedication.

What a week! Proof again that the cultural offer for the young people in the Cockburn MAT is outstanding.