It’s Wednesday afternoon and a PE lesson is in full-swing. But there isn’t a cross-country run or basketball hoop in sight.

Instead, one set of children is learning to juggle, others are mastering the yo-yo, a third group is whizzing around on unicycles and a fourth is inching its way across a slackline.

At the International School Aberdeen, circus skills like these are a central component of the physical education curriculum. They are designed to get children active, develop new skills and provide a boost to their confidence.

The sessions are the brainchild of head of PE Mark DeGraw. He arrived at the school 13 years ago having previously taught circus skills within PE lessons in schools in California, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

“I’ve been teaching circus skills for about 25 years since I was inspired by my own aunt and uncle who taught PE in Seattle in inner- city schools, and used circus skills as a way to reach kids differently,” he explains.

Indeed DeGraw’s aunt, Sue Turner, was profiled in 2002 by The Seattle Times for the impact her circus-skills focus in PE had on her pupils.

DeGraw is carrying on this legacy, and explains that the benefits of teaching circus skills - alongside more traditional PE activities - are multiple. It’s not just about refined motor skills and coordination development through different sports. It’s also that it gives children who are usually sidelined in PE an opportunity to shine.

“If you teach traditional sports you usually see the same child that is good at one sport is good at all sports, and the same kids are disengaged - but teach them the unicycle and suddenly it’s not about winning or losing but progressing,” he says. “We often end up seeing dozens of kids who are usually not successful in traditional sports going around the whole gym on a unicycle by the end.”

He says achieving in this way can help pupils develop confidence that can have a wider effect across school.

“When we start I often say, ‘If you can learn to unicycle, you can do physics, you can do algebra’, and it does have a knock-on effect with confidence because it gives them that sense if they can master something like this you can take on anything.”

As excellent as all this sounds, there is one obvious issue: how exactly can teachers be expected to teach pupils to unicycle, juggle or any of the other myriad things that circus skills can incorporate if they have no experience of it themselves?

Ringmastery not required

DeGraw claims that teaching circus skills is similar to any other PE lesson: mastery by the teacher is not required, rather they are there to provide guidance for pupils to learn a new skill.

“You don’t have to be an incredible football player to teach football - it’s about passing the concepts on, breaking it down to sections and steps and guiding them,” he says.

He adds that YouTube can also be a great resource for tips on how to learn, while the mantra of practice makes perfect applies - as ever - to any teacher, or pupil, wanting to master this skill (see box, above).

Of course, you could also get a real-life circus in to help as well. This is what independent SEND school Beech Lodge School did by working with circus troupe Lunar Circus Australia for a two-week intensive circus skills festival in May 2019.

The school’s proprietor Daniela Shanly explains that the collaboration came about because the creator of the company was someone she had gone to school with who had literally run away to join the circus when he was 17 and had gone up to set up his own circus business.

“We were on holiday and I said, ‘Why don’t you do a festival at the school?’” she says. This led to nine performers coming over to the school and working with the children for two weeks to teach skills, including juggling, unicycling, human pyramids, tumbling and even the trapeze.

To ensure there was an educational element of this circus takeover, the school maintained teaching lessons during the two-week period each morning - but with a circus twist. This meant, for example, that history looked at the history of circus while maths looked at how to erect a circus tent based on mathematical principles.

The school now intends to incorporate the teaching of circus skills into its PE lessons on a regular basis, while the two-week intensive circus workshop will run again in summer 2021. Shanly has also published a report online of the school’s experience of engaging in circus skills and the benefits it provided.

The cost of working with a circus company is obviously not cheap. Shanly acknowledges the school was lucky to be supported by two charitable trusts to part-fund the initiative while it also raised money by selling tickets to a festival where pupils showed off their skills.

For most schools, a circus journey will more likely be on a smaller scale within PE or after-school clubs, similar to International School Aberdeen. DeGraw says getting something like this up and running does not need to cost a lot.

“You don’t need to buy one unicycle for each student, for example, but maybe start with bean bags for juggling, hula-hoops, yo-yos, and go from there and keep adding as you go,” he says.

Even then, bigger items such as unicycles don’t need to be a huge cost: “If you look for unicycles it can be less than £50 for one and they last a long time - I have 13 unicycles I bought years ago that are working fine.”

Even if you can afford it, though, will parents support it? DeGraw says that the enthusiasm of pupils usually wins their parents around.

“I’ve had parents question why aren’t we playing more football and my response is usually to wait and see how the children react, and I think the vast majority are very keen once they see the enthusiasm their child brings home,” he says.

And it’s not just about children telling the parents but showing, too: “At the conclusion of the unit we have an assembly where we have parents in and the pupils show off their skills and that really sells it,” adds DeGraw.

Beech Lodge School’s festival had a similar impact: “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” says Shanly. “And the feedback from parents and staff was that the change they saw in pupils was monumental.”

But do we risk the lessons being too successful and children fleeing to join the circus? Shanly says it certainly broadens horizons as to what might be possible - and that is a good thing.

“It showed the children there are other ways to succeed in life, because [here were] these unusual, talented people who are spirited and creative, showing there are other opportunities to succeed,” she says.

DeGraw adds that ultimately learning to juggle or riding a unicycle brings a little je ne sais quoi to the educational experience that can help in numerous ways - educationally and in more unexpected ways, too.

“I often say [to the pupils] that being able to unicycle is a great way to show off a bit and I have actually had two former students email me to tell me that they later met their wives after showing off their unicycling skills at university.”

Dan Worth is deputy commissioning editor at Tes

This article originally appeared in the 27 March 2020 issue under the headline “Roll up, roll up for PE’s big top vision!”