Curtains Up for The Wind in the Willows

There was plenty to celebrate today as our latest Waymakers Drama Deep Dive came to a close with a wonderful 40-minute musical theatre performance of The Wind in the Willows for family and friends.

Over just two days, the young people worked together to create an engaging production featuring narration, dialogue, songs, dance, costumes, props, and scenery. The performance showcased not only their creativity and talent but also the power of collaboration, with every young person contributing in ways that reflected their interests and strengths.

While some relished taking to centre stage, others chose smaller parts and equally important roles, helping to create props, scenery, costumes and choreography. Waymakers staff were also on hand to support young people in their chosen roles. Everyone made a meaningful contribution. We were also delighted to be joined by a paid teenage assistant who has attended Barry’s home education drama classes for over ten years. It was inspiring to see someone who has grown up in the home education community now helping to support the next generation.

The production was led by Barry, whose decades of experience working with home-educated young people created a space where confidence, creativity and teamwork flourished. A strong narrator held the story together beautifully, while the cast brought the much-loved characters to life through expressive acting, lively songs and energetic dance.

Our Deep Dives offer young people the opportunity to immerse themselves in a particular topic in depth. They complement our core groups, which are more self-directed and project-based, by providing structured opportunities to explore a particular interest in greater depth with expert input. Importantly, young people choose to attend both core group and Deep Dives because they genuinely want to be there - a principle that aligns with a wealth of educational research showing the benefits of autonomy and intrinsic motivation for engagement, persistence and high-quality learning.

Today’s performance was a wonderful reminder of what can happen when young people are given the opportunity to pursue something they genuinely enjoy in a supportive, collaborative environment.

We’re also excited that this marks the beginning of a new chapter. From September, Barry’s Monday drama sessions will officially become part of the Waymakers programme as Drama Discovery, and bookings are already open. If you know a young person who loves acting, storytelling, improvisation or simply wants to grow in confidence, make friends through drama, we’d love to welcome them.

Find out more and book a trial here:

https://www.waymakerscambridge.co.uk/sessions/p/drama-discovery

Huge congratulations to every member of the cast and crew, to Barry, to our fantastic teenage assistant and our fabulous Waymakers Support Facilitators Charlie and Kristy…and of course to the families who came along to support today’s performance.