Watch: our third year partnering with Royal Shakespeare Company Education

The performing arts have always played a major role in our holistic approach to education. From our partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) Education, to the annual Dulwich Shakespeare Festival, drama workshops and other arts festivals throughout the year, the arts are embedded in everything we do.

This year marks the third year of Dulwich College International’s partnership with RSC Education. This collaboration affords our students and staff a wide variety of opportunities to access and engage with Shakespeare’s works, developing a lifelong relationship with his plays and live theatre. We achieve this through pedagogical practice developed directly from the RSC’s rehearsal rooms.

The RSC Education approach is based on the following:

RSC Education aims to make Shakespeare vivid, accessible and enjoyable for students of all ages and their teachers.

Enabling young people to have the kind of joyful first encounters with Shakespeare’s work that lift their aspirations and belief in their own abilities. 

Prioritising the professional development of teachers so that more young people’s experiences of Shakespeare’s plays are rooted in the real-world work of actors and directors in the rehearsal room.

A significant and compelling body of evidence about the impact of RSC Education’s teaching approaches on student self-confidence and attainment.

This upcoming year will begin with a multi-day residential professional development program for teachers across our network. In October, RSC practitioners will then join our family of schools in Beijing for our annual Dulwich Shakespeare Festival, where they will lead a tailored three-day workshop programme for our students. Each evening schools will perform a range of productions by Shakespeare. The third structured learning opportunity will begin next January, as RSC practitioners will spend a full week at each of our seven participating schools for comprehensive in-school residencies. Students and staff will also enjoy access to online RSC resources, as well as tickets and access to RSC productions in the UK and Asia.