School Focus: Developing dance through working with the Traveller community
Expression of interest overview
West Monmouth School in Tofaen, serves partner feeder primary schools in the neighbouring electoral wards of New Inn, Panteg, Ponypool Fawr, Trevethin and Penygam. Historically, the school has offered traditional sports and drama activities. With a changing socioeconomic profile of pupils, with free school meals eligibility increasing from 17% to 32% over the last five years, there was a desire to provide a broader offering in line with the interests of pupils. There was an interest to be involved in dance, including by pupils from the Traveller community. To extend the offer, the school sought to host after-school sessions, with a view to train pupils to become dance leaders and provide dance sessions to feeder primary schools. The intention was for the funding to be spent on three overarching areas to support the creation of a community hub:
- Staff costs
- External providers of dance sessions
- Delivery costs
Programme implementation
The school received funding from December 2021 to July 2022. Attendance numbers recorded by the school showed attendance varied across the months, with the greatest attendance in March (534 participants) and May (456 participants). The lowest attendance was in January (111 participants), which was notably lower than most months, thereby suggesting that attendance increased once knowledge of the sessions was disseminated. Monthly learning logs listed activities the school had been offering, such as pupil and adult dance activity. A wide variety of dance styles were covered (e.g. Latin, jazz, hip hop, street dance, and contemporary). Through the monthly completion of learning logs, the following key reflective points were highlighted, and the school’s implementation of the programme was documented in the timeline shown in Figure 16.
What worked well
- Relationships developed with external providers, Torfaen Sports Development, and feeder primaries
- Pupils made rapid progress and accessed competitions
- Development of dance leaders extended provision
- The school is underway in creating a dance culture - a long-term aim with provision now available for different year groups, for boys and girls, and adults
Learning points
- Further work to develop leaders and more time to realise overall ambitions and aims
Next steps
- West Mon and Torfaen Sports Development team will continue to support the adult dance fitness provision next academic year
- Continue to develop dance competitions in Eisteddfods
- Potential for a provider to set up additional community club based at school
