Greystones Primary After-Hours Circus Skills Club

Over the past couple of years I've held regular circus skills sessions, once-a-week at Greystones Primary. With groups of around 16 pupils who learn the core skills of juggling, diabolo & poi. Many pupils have enjoyed a terms worth of workshops and we also have a core group of those who've returned again and again.


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Greystones 'Circus Skills Zone'

This was set-up in Novemebr 2008. Greystones School had already aquired a small stock of equipment (balls, diabolos, poi etc) and, due to the long-running after-hours club at which I teach, had a committed core of pupils who'd learnt a good variety of skills, as well as the necessary understanding of equipment care and safety precautions.

At this time I'd applied to a circus funding organisation (the 'British Juggling Convention 2008 Committee') and they kindly provided me with £500 to spend on setting up a project to further circus skills provision in a Sheffield School.

This funding enabled me to offer Greystones the following-

  • a one-hour workshop for staff- to give school staff an insight into the skills pupils will be working on, the knowledge to enable staff to teach basic skills, understand safety issues and assist/oversee the schools circus skills provision
  • the setting up of a 'Circus Skills Zone'- this will be run by the school to take place during selected lunch-time breaks. Circus Skills equipment will be made available in a cordoned-off area. Each session will be overseen by pupils experienced in circus skills acting as 'monitors'. After a series of initial visits by me, the project will become self-sufficient and run entirely by the school and it's pupils
  • a full day of workshops for pupils, so more of the schools pupils will be able to participate in the 'circus skills zone' during lunch breaks
  • a large quantity of additional circus skills equipment

This is an excellent example of how a school or organisation can get maximum value out of circus skills workshops. With a little planning and a small investment in equipment, the pupils can continue to develop their skills outside of taught workshops.

This actually helps in the taught workshops because the pupils can come back having worked on the skills in their own time, enabling me to teach them even more advanced techniques.

Additionally, the pupils benefit from the responsibility of taking care of the schools equipment and, in the monitors case, overseeing use of the equipment and managing other pupils.