Drama students from South Essex College took part in a project with Southend Council and Essex Police to warn young people about the dangers of cyber bullying.
The UAL Level 3 Performance and Production Arts (Acting) class performed to 25 schools in two days. Their online bullying themed pieces reached over 5,000 9-12 year olds in the Southend area.
The group who attend the College’s Southend Campus visited local schools including Darlinghurst Primary School, Chalkwell Hall Junior School and Shoeburyness High School.
Students were pleased with the impact their performances had on the school children. Ronan Ford, 17, from Basildon said: “The audiences fell silent as soon as we started performing, they really got engaged with the plays. Hopefully we educated them in the dangers of the online world.”
Honor Edwards, 18 from Hockley said: “The whole process taught us real life skills about touring a production. We had to perform to diverse audiences with different reactions.”
Gary Collard, Youth Officer for Essex Police, helped to organise this scheme. He said: “I want to thank all the acting students for their hard work. The performances got the message across really well and we’ve had some fantastic feedback from the teachers.”
Sarah Doney, Course Team Leader, said: “This was a great opportunity for the students to work on a live brief with professional bodies. We’ve been running this initiative for five years and the impact is increasing every time.”
For more information about studying Performing Arts at the College, visit http://www.southessex.ac.uk/course/performing-arts-acting-level-3