At Attitude we are firm believers that we can all continue to develop our dance skills whether that be for personal technique, strength and ability, developing new teaching techniques and perspectives, or for how we can encourage our confidence and general wellbeing through an holistic approach of teaching and learning: we try to encompass these values throughout the school for all our students, families and teachers. Therefore, all our members of staff regularly participate in seminars, workshops and courses to continue their professional development as a teacher and dancer.
This weekend, the entire team attended an online seminar with the Association we are registered with (ARBTA). During this seminar we discussed the possibility of holding some online/pre-recorded examinations, which may give us the opportunity to enter candidates for exams that they were scheduled to sit in July this year. Although we are in no rush to start pushing pupils to take their exams, it is reassuring that for those children who are more than ready and have maintained their levels throughout this difficult year, will hopefully get the chance to take their exam and move forward as usual.
As well as exploring certain aspects of the ARBTA character syllabus, which we hope to introduce to our timetable once more in the future, we also listened to a very good talk, led by Dominic Spin, on the Black Lives Matter movement. Dominic is an extremely talented performer who many of us have had the pleasure to either perform with, be taught by or watch perform on many occasions. As well as his career in dance, Dominic is now expanding his acting career, which is also going from strength to strength. It was a privilege to be able to sit and listen to Dominic’s personal experiences as a black artist and take inspiration from this, as to how we can make a difference within our school community.
As well as the ARBTA seminar, some of you may have seen that Miss Jess has recently passed her diploma in Special Educational Needs and Disability. As we hope you are all already aware, our school embraces all people of all ages and ability and we shall continue to broaden our knowledge as much as we can to make the school open for everybody. We would like to thank Miss Jess for her contribution in this area. We are also hopeful that at some point in the future we will be able to reopen the conversation with Stoke Mandeville Stadium’s inclusive sport department, in order for Miss Emily and Miss a Jess to be able to move forward with their paradance classes and workshops they have to offer after completing training late in 2019.
We hope this gives you a little insight into some of the activities the Attitude teachers are involved with when not teaching you. We are always looking for ways to improve and develop and we hope you find this is reflected in the day to day running of the school.
If you would like to find out more then please send us a message or speak to us in person next time you see us at class.
