What was the best arts company or event to visit your school in the past year?

Venture Productions from Liverpool.

How did you hear about them?

They had sent a promotional leaflet in the post and we were looking for something just along those lines.

How long did they spend with you?

An afternoon. They arrived at lunchtime and set everything up, then spent about an hour and a quarter on the whole performance, including a question and answer session afterwards.

What did they do?

There were about half a dozen of them and they did a performance called The Pearl of Wisdom. It was a tale about finding treasure and deciding what to do with it and was designed to encourage the children’s investigative and expressive skills as well as to develop their understanding of wider moral implications.

The question and answer session ws more involved with behind-the-scenes details and information on how to put on a stage show.

Did you do any preparation work beforehand?

Apart from talking to the children about the visit, not really.

Any follow-up work?

Yes, the classes did their own follow-up work, writing about it, doing artwork and discussing the moral themes that had been raised.

What was so good about the visit?

The children were fascinated by all the behind-the-scenes aspects and the technical side of lighting and music, props and so on, and they enjoyed the whole performance. We weren’t in the least disappointed - it was altogether a very valuable contribution.

How relevant was it to the curriculum?

The moral aspects fitted really well to the personal and social development and it was beneficial to expressive and investigative skills.

How much did the visit cost?

pound;1 per child.

Who paid?

The children.

Venture Producations, tel 0151 523 2428