Lead Associate Schools are schools that work collaboratively a cluster of Associate Schools and Associate Regional Theatres.
Lead Associate Schools are schools that work collaboratively with a minimum of 8 Associate Schools and, where applicable, an Associate Regional Theatre. Lead Associate Schools have chosen to be in a leadership position within the partnership cluster, with full support from their Senior Leadership team.
Qualities of a Lead Associate School
Senior leadership are advocates for and a driving force behind the work and its implementation across the cluster.
Senior Leadership nominate at least two members of staff as Lead Teachers for the Programme, and support the Lead Teachers to attend meetings, training, performances and other Associate School commitments.
The role of the Lead Teacher is to lead practice, plan, and co-ordinate activity for the cluster of Associate Schools, with support from their Associate Regional Theatre partner (where applicable) and the RSC.
Lead Teachers ensure that RSC rehearsal room pedagogy is an embedded and regular part of classroom practice across all year groups in a primary school, and with particular emphasis on English and Drama departments in secondaries. All activity undertaken by Associate Schools should have classroom pedagogy at its core.
The cluster has research and evaluation embedded into activity, with evidence of the impact of the work for teachers and young people collated and shared with the RSC, for example case studies. Eligible primary schools in the cluster take part in the Outcomes Framework.
Core Commitments of a Lead Associate School
- Year Plan: Develop a Year Plan detailing activity for the cluster, with support from the Associate Regional Theatre (where applicable) and the RSC. The plan must be agreed upon in the summer planning meeting and submitted to the RSC by the end of Autumn Term 1.
- Attendance at Connected: Commit three staff members (including one member of SLT) to attend Connected, our annual two-day training event for the Associate Schools Programme network to explore practice, develop skills and share work.
- Cluster Meetings: Host termly or half-termly Cluster Meetings for teachers from Associate Schools to reflect, develop practice and plan. These may take place in person or online and help to keep the cluster connected.
- 3 x RSC CPD days: In collaboration with the Associate Regional Theatre (where applicable), organise and attend three (two minimum) CPD days for teachers in the cluster, led by an RSC practitioner.
- Playmaking: In collaboration with the Associate Regional Theatre (where applicable), bring students from the Associate Schools together each academic year for Playmaking: a celebration of work created together with young people, teachers and artists, shared with an audience. Playmaking should become a core part of the Associate Schools Programme for clusters after two-three years of development.
- Recruitment: In collaboration with the Associate Regional Theatre (where applicable), review the cluster of Associate Schools every other year and re-recruit, according to the criteria below and using the recruitment tools provided by the RSC. This serves to refresh the cluster and reestablish Associate Schools’ commitment to the programme.
Recruitment criteria:
- State maintained school, or specialist SEND school
- In a DCMS ‘Levelling Up for Culture’ area or a DfE ‘Education Investment Area’
- Higher than national average percentage of student eligibility for Free School Meals and/or Pupil Premium
- Commitment from Senior Leadership to support and resource the programme
Additional activity:
The Lead Associate School, along with its Associate Schools, RSC and Associate Regional Theatre (where applicable), will decide which other activities to engage with each year. These activities might include the below or other special projects:
