Whilst Downe House has been organising TeachMeets for a few years now, the inaugural Drama TeachMeet held on Teams was the first faculty-led event and was certainly full of lively and frequent engagement which was matched by the high-energy and enthusiasm of the presenters. Taking place on a rainy Saturday afternoon, the event attracted over 80 attendees from all over the world and focused on sharing good practice and top tips to kickstart Drama practical lessons now that they are back on the timetable.

The event followed the tried and tested format of a series of nano-presentations on topics including Zoom Games, Using Verbatim in the Classroom, Putting Process Back Into Drama, Effective KS5 Strategy, Quizlet and Do Now Tasks as well as a 30-minute keynote presentation by Georgie Coles from the fabulous Paper Birds Theatre Company who spoke about approaches to devising.

Acting Director of Drama and Dance, Ms Kayleigh Anger said,

It was a truly wonderful afternoon of fast-paced CPD and it was clear from the comments that everyone found something new and inspiring to take away from the event – I know I did! I would like to thank all of our fantastic presenters for sharing so many creative and inspirational ideas and and special thanks to Georgie from Paper Birds who gave us so many incredible ideas to take back to our classrooms. We are also grateful to Black Box Education who supported the Drama TeachMeet. I think all of us at Downe House came away from the event feeling very much part of a community who can do so much to support each other – and I think that our new collective noun, ‘A dazzle of Drama teachers’ absolutely sums up what was a truly ‘dazzling’ event!