On Friday 12 January, pupils were introduced to the art of puppetry and got to experience the skill first hand, taking on a range of puppetry styles from old to contemporary. This workshop offered pupils an insight into the world of puppetry, learning about it's use and history all over the world. Each pupil was given the chance to puppeteer a puppet of their choosing, from marionettes to glove puppets pupils were able to animate the objects by placing emphasis on weight, pace and breath. Some puppets required more than one puppeteer meaning that the pupils had to collaborate towards a shared idea of what they wanted to create, working as an ensemble.

Merlin Perrow (U4) shares how he found the workshop below;

"To start with, we learnt how to make a puppet seem real, and then we pretended our hand was a puppet! Then we learnt how to control and manoeuvre a bamboo stick, and then we pretended that was a puppet too! And then we learned about the different types of puppets: finger puppets, glove puppets, marionettes and rod puppets! And then we had a go at controlling some proper puppets! My favourite puppet was a stoat with two rods sticking out from its back, it could act like a slinky and stand up! My favourite activity in this fun-packed day was controlling the puppets. I had a go on a puppet that operated with only a clothes hanger, now I’m saving them up! Overall, it has been the best day this year so far."