Avonbourne School

Footprints of South Africa is a collaborative arts project for children and young people, inspired by South Africa, which led to a major public performance at Lighthouse, Poole’s Centre for the Arts on 28 June 2008, coinciding with Nelson Mandela’s 90^th birthday.

Visits to Cape Town and its surroundings early in 2007 (click here for more information) inspired a number of teachers to look at developing further the amazing experiences they had in South Africa. Links are already developing between those schools and counterparts in South Africa. This project aims to build upon those links, introducing some of the vibrant cultures and history of South Africa to children and young people whilst developing their knowledge, creativity and arts practice. 

Our aim is to work collaboratively with various secondary and primary schools in Poole and Bournemouth on Dance, Music and Visual Arts, with the support of professional artists and arts teachers. The outcome was an excellent high profile public event and performance which received extensive coverage in the local press, celebrating the creative talents of our students, whilst raising cultural horizons more generally. Each participating school chose a particular strength (Dance, Music or Visual Art) and integrated their creative arts project either within the curriculum or as an extra curricular club. This project ran over a 6 months period, starting in January 2008, climaxing with the performance(s) in June.

Participating Schools