What we offer
At Growtheatre, we bring creativity, drama, and outdoor learning together to inspire children and support schools. We offer ready-made, Curriculum-Linked Workshops designed to complement your teaching and also well as bespoke projects tailored to your school’s unique needs. These can include day-long events, arts weeks, long-term residencies, and outdoor sessions in your school grounds or nearby green spaces.
Our approach is unique because we combine:
- Creative practice, based in drama
- Outdoor learning and Forest Schools (Artistic Director, Rachel Newman is Level 3 Forest School Practitioner. )
- Curriculum Development
We also support teaching staff through innovative and practical CPD sessions, helping schools embed creative practice in the classroom. Growtheatre is an Artsmark Partner and can support your school in achieving Artsmark, as well as delivering Arts Award at Bronze and Silver levels.
We have a proven track record of building strong connections between schools and their communities, often by engaging children and families in school-based projects.
👉 To explore our bespoke projects click on the case studies below, or get in touch via our contact page.
👉 Our Curriculum-Linked Workshops bring learning to life for all key stages, combining drama, storytelling and outdoor exploration to engage children, develop skills and support your curriculum objectives. Please see below.
Story Walk Workshops for FS2 & Year 1
Bring much-loved picture books to life through storytelling, drama, and outdoor exploration — all delivered at your school or a nearby green space (e.g., a park or woodland area).
Led by our magical storyteller, Mrs Saga, children first meet her as she reads the class a story. She then invites them to go on a Story Walk to gather magical story ingredients. Through movement, imaginative play, discussion and simple drama activities, children explore characters, settings, and key moments while discovering the natural world around them.
A central focus of Story Walk Workshops is language development. Children are encouraged to listen, speak, describe, discuss, and collaborate, using rich vocabulary drawn from both the story and the outdoor environment. By bringing the story off the page and into a shared experience, children develop confidence in communication and a deeper understanding of the text — in ways that reading alone cannot achieve.
Stories Available Include
- Stick Man – Julia Donaldson
- The Gruffalo – Julia Donaldson
- Pumpkin Soup – Helen Cooper
- The Kiss That Missed – David Melling
- The Extraordinary Gardener – Sam Boughton
- Little Red – Bethan Woollvin
- The Great Kapok Tree – Lynne Cherry
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt – Michael Rosen & Helen Oxenbury
- Jack and the Beanstalk
Optional Family / Parent Element
Schools can also choose to add a family or parent session as a paid extra. This allows parents to share part of the Story Walk with their child and reinforces your school’s messages about the importance of reading together at home.
Workshop Details
- Length: Approx 1 hour 10 minutes, plus indoor/outdoor transitions — timing may vary with site and season.
- Location: On site — in school grounds or a nearby green space
- Costs: £100 per workshop (up to 3 workshops per day; 1 class per workshop)
Benefits of Story Walk Workshops:
- Hands-on, curriculum-linked learning
- Encourages language development, discussion, creativity, and confidence
- Combines drama, storytelling, and outdoor exploration
- Flexible delivery in school grounds or nearby green spaces
- Optional family-focused session available
Contact us with any questions or to book a Story Walk workshop for your school via our contact page.
Thank you very much for coming into work with Reception. It was fantastic to see the children so engaged and fascinated. They loved working outside and engaging in open ended creative tasks. They way you had thought how to tailor the session for EAL learners was great. It was particularly fab to see the children revisit a story we had learnt about in class as the workshop allowed them to retrieve and use the language again.
Step Into the Past – Outdoor History Adventures (KS1 & KS2)
Bring the history curriculum to life with immersive outdoor workshops for KS1 and KS2 that combine drama, role-play, and hands-on exploration. Pupils step into different time periods, experiencing the past in a way that textbooks alone cannot offer.
Delivered at your school or nearby green spaces, our workshops turn familiar outdoor areas into historical landscapes. By stepping outside the classroom, pupils explore history through movement, imagination, and collaboration. Drama and role-play encourage discussion, questioning, and spoken language, helping pupils develop confidence as historians.
Each ready-to-deliver workshop links directly to the National Curriculum, supporting chronological understanding, historical enquiry, and debate. In-role characters, practical activities, and outdoor exploration help pupils actively investigate the past in a memorable and engaging way.
Workshops Available Include
| Workshop & Curriculum Topic | Outdoor Activities & Workshop Features | Skills Developed |
|---|---|---|
| Toys & Games Through Time | Meet a time-travelling teacher who guides the session. Key learning: explore how children played in different historical periods; understand how toys and games reflect daily life and social changes; compare past and present play. Activities include: handling replica toys, acting out historical games outdoors, dramatic role-play to imagine children’s experiences, creative storytelling about play. | Imagination and creativity, teamwork, curiosity about history, early historical enquiry, drama skills, build oracy through role-play and collaboration, practical outdoor exploration. |
| History on Your Doorstep – KS1 Local history and community | Chronological understanding, problem solving, teamwork, discussion and spoken communication, practical survival skills. | Speaking and listening, asking questions, working together, observing closely, understanding change over time, drama skills, enjoying stories from the past. |
| Stone Age Survival Changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age | Meet a Stone Age character who guides the session. Key learning: place key events and innovations in order (fire, tools, farming, settlements); explore daily life changes across Stone Age periods; understand long-term human adaptation and survival. Activities include: hunting and foraging, firelighting, creating Stone Age settlements from natural materials. | Chronological understanding, historical enquiry, teamwork, oracy through discussion, drama skills, practical outdoor skills (Forest School-based). |
| Roman Life & Legacy The Roman Empire and its impact on Britain | Meet a Romano-British character who will introduce you to Roman daily life. Key learning: explore Roman army logistics and settlements; understand everyday life and technology in Roman Britain. Activities include: Roman marching drills and shield teamwork exercises, feeding an army (grinding grain, ration planning), mapping Roman settlements, and simple Roman crafts. Drama exploration of Roman inventions such as roads, baths, aqueducts and forts. | Historical enquiry, collaboration, strategic thinking, discussion, oracy, drama skills, practical understanding of Roman life. |
| Settlers & Raiders Anglo-Saxon settlement and Viking invasion | Meet the Anglo-Saxon woman whose cakes were burnt by King Alfred. Key learning: understand how Anglo-Saxons lived, how their settlements were organised, and how they defended against Viking raids. Activities include: design Anglo-Saxon settlements with natural materials, compare Anglo-Saxon and Viking armies through role-play, explore daily life and conflict scenarios. | Strategic thinking, comparison, teamwork, discussion, historical understanding, drama skills, oracy. |
| Medieval Power Medieval life, society and economy | Meet a medieval trader who guides the session. Key learning: explore medieval trades, village life, and the feudal system, including social hierarchy and how historical events shaped daily life. Activities include: drama role-play to experience village roles, clay modelling of tools or bread, simple weaving, mapping a settlement, and problem-solving challenges based on everyday medieval life. | Creativity, discussion, teamwork, problem-solving, understanding medieval society, drama skills, oracy. |
| History on Your Doorstep – KS2 Local history and community | Meet a local historian and archaeologist who will help you investigate the history on your doorstep. Key learning: investigate local heritage, landscape change, and community history. Activities include: site exploration, archaeological investigation, mapping, role-play, and investigative challenges. Activities vary depending on your chosen location and focus. Previous sites have included: Sheffield Botanical Gardens, Clifton Park, Wincobank Hill, Sheffield General Cemetery, Ecclesall Woods, and Endcliffe Park. | Critical thinking, discussion, historical enquiry, teamwork, understanding of local change, drama skills, oracy. |
| WW2 Children’s Stories Britain during the Second World War | Meet a WWII evacuee character telling stories of evacuee children. Key learning: explore different experiences of evacuee children, including those who left home and those who remained in their towns or cities; understand how the war affected daily life, families and communities. Activities include: role-play decision-making, ration challenges, spoken diary entries or letter role-play, and exploring daily life scenarios. | Empathy, historical perspective, discussion, critical thinking, understanding social history, build oracy through role-play, spoken communication. |
Need Something Different?
If your class is studying a historical topic not listed above, just get in touch. We’re always happy to design a bespoke outdoor history workshop linked to your curriculum topic or local area.
Workshop Details
- Length: Typically 1.5–2 hours, plus indoor / outdoor transition — timings vary by site and season.
- Capacity: 1 class per workshop
- Costs: £175 per workshop (up to 3 workshops per day)
- Delivered by experienced drama practitioners, combining active exploration, discussion, and creativity.
Benefits for Schools & Pupils
- Active, hands-on learning outdoors
- Builds historical knowledge, enquiry, and discussion skills
- Encourages teamwork, communication, and confidence
- Flexible delivery in school grounds or nearby green spaces
- Fully curriculum-linked, ready-to-deliver workshops
Contact Us
We’re happy to discuss how a workshop could work in your school grounds or nearby green spaces. For questions or to book an Outdoor History Adventure Workshop, contact us via our contact page.
Today’s workshop was both fun and illuminating – our Year 6s learnt so much local history and we loved how you connected to some of the people buried in Sheffield General Cemetery. The children found theme of Universal Rights fascinating and really engaged with it; I was struck by how many pupils were moved by the stories. Not living locally to the school, I don’t think I would ever have discovered all this hidden local history. Thank you!
