Well my show doesn’t have Wombles but it does have Bungaroos which are the next best thing. My Bungaroo comes to Earth to be a Pop Star. Problem is the Queen decides she needs a proper holiday and leaves the Prince in charge. Being rather a naughty prince he gets carried away and bans toys and chocolate and music until the Bungaroo comes to see him.

Can the Bungaroo save the day?
Will the Queen get back from Butlins in time to sort the naughty prince out?

Well all will be revealed but suffice to say it all ends up in a big party.

I think you can see it is rather a silly show but it has a kind of serious aim. My Bungaroo stories purpose is really to see how much of a free, party atmosphere you can create with the children absolutely expressing themselves to the full. Not just the ones used to showing off but everyone. We get children up doing stuff that amazes the parents and teachers and it is all done in such a flash that they have no time for fear or self doubt.

I really think it can leave an impression of confidence, freedom and fun that will live in the child’s memory for ever and just like 1977 I hope it creates a community day that will bring the school together for the day.

Both myself and Mike went to the Palace for Charles 50th as we were supported by the Princes Trust when when we started up Splats. We met the Queen, the Queen Mum, Charles and Jimmy Saville. a very inspiring evening and I hope you agree our show has the spirit of togetherness that the Queen would love.

Drop me a line with any thoughts and if you know anyone who fancies some help creating the best party on Earth. I think you’ll find the Bungaroo is a winner.

It is very true when learning skills that fear of failure can be a bit of a non starter. Often when we teach people to juggle at splats they will not want to drop the balls. It is seen as a sign of failure when actually it is quite the opposite. It is absolutely essential to drop, firstly to relax enough to just let the catching happen and the throw to be gentle but also your brain needs the information from the failed attempts to work out how to do it.

Having juggled now for over 21 years I know not to be judgmental when learning new tricks and to realize that given time and practice the trick will work. in fact you learn to sit back and actually really enjoy the learning process as it is fascinating to see how it works. Of course little doubts do pop up in your head but the skill is just to watch them and see they are there and not get involved in the internal debate:0)

This is why after 21 years of teaching juggling it is never boring. It is always fascinating to see how people learn, what obstacles they put in front of them or of course how free some people are in just doing it without any fear or doubts.

anyway good luck to Wimbledon High School and the head Heather Hanbury on what looks like a fun week. I will drop them a line and see if they fancy a juggling lesson.

Stephen Richards
BEd PE
Oh and fancy learning have a look at Learn to Juggle. It’s got some really cool animations that took ages so pick up some juggling balls or socks or anything unbreakable and get juggling and don’t forget to drop

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This led me to complete my dissertation on how maybe a way of getting more pupils to succeed in sports was by looking at different activities rather that just trying to rework how to teach football, rugby and cricket! This certainly wasn’t any sort of anti – competitive sport mission I hasten to add. Juggling certainly can be competitive but in a different way as you are always challenging yourself and looking to others for ideas. It also can act as a springboard for success. Once pupils improve their coordination and body control though learning to juggle it can help them succeed in a whole range of other sports.

What I found was that it did involve those pupils who didn’t usually succeed, it had no particular gender/ culture bias – boys and girls were just as likely to succeed and participate and very valuably it gave pupils a large degree of control over their learning. Once the pupils learnt the basic cascade they could take over the learning process – inventing tricks and teaching each other.

Since setting up Splats we must have taught over 2 million!!! pupils the juggling technique and we hope provided a fun and inspirational skill for them to share with others. Our philosophy is that anything is possible and juggling is a great model to help pupils understand that. What seems very difficult is in fact simple once broken down into steps and practiced. This learning skill can be transferred to all other areas of their school life.

I truly believe that the impact of our day in the school in terms of co-operation, confidence and learning will last for months, and for some pupils, years.

All the best

Theatre in education with an added splat.

Sounds a bit tricky I know and doesn’t sound long enough to get a quality performance, but do you know what – it works and I think it’s because it’s so spontaneous. I guess it’s our Covent Garden background but I absolutely love it and I think this technique has a lot going for it.

I think I shall call it The Splats Method, how about that darlings!

During a splats day there will be kids doing stuff that there was no way the teacher or the other kids expected.
I’ve had teacher’s warn me that such and such would be difficult as will hardly speak and by the afternoon they are cackling an evil laugh and playing the panto baddie with gusto or air guitaring at the front of the stage. (My computer wants to change that to air guttering which sounds like extreme roof maintenance. I was writing about Vikings that pillage the other day and it changed to it to Pilates but  I digress.

The joy of pirate life

Pupils will perform with a sense of freedom & self expression.

• the fear factor

When we have a big event such as an interview or even a performance we often have a mix of inspiration and fear. Sometimes time in rehearsal or the build up to an event can mean that fear can begin to override the inspiration that is naturally there.
What we aim to achieve in our create a show days is to condense this process so this fear doesn’t have time to kick in. This means that often pupils will find they have already performed the show before they have had the time to think, this isn’t what I would usually do! Or, what will people think of me?. By then they have already been there, done that and challenged their preconceptions and had a lot of fun along the way.

                                 Just do it – now there’s a good tag line!

Of course builds up to a show, anticipation, rehearsals are a wonderful part of theatre but by making it all in a very short space of time it can have the benefit of breaking through their perceptions before any barriers have time to be built.

                  no big deal, just enjoy, have some fun and don’t have any fear.

I think it works because the intuition of the child is that this is a safe learning environment and they can take part without fear. They see everyone else doing fun things then why shouldn’t they.

By trusting our instincts we often make some of the best decisions. How often do you think after much deliberation that your initial gut feeling was a good one?

Also what effect does this have on the pupils self perception and confidence.
I like to see it as a little flash or paint stroke in their memory -  a splat of colour and fun
which will affect what they think they are capable, which is of course ANYTHING.

Children often do perform and play with no fear but sometimes as they reach a certain age other thoughts begin to become more prominent. Returning to a child hood state at a childhood is probably a lot easier than waiting to you’re 42.

       have fun and don’t take yourselves too seriously – a good tip?

Just to add. I talk about it being very free and expressive and spontaneous but this does only come from a load of planing and preparation in the scripts, music, staging etc. It is of course great fun to do this but I am not just saying give a kid a funny wig and go, you do need to have worked it all out and that gives the space for their confidence to shine.

Luckily we have done all this work for you, with a little help from 1000s of children and teachers who have added new ideas every show

Anyway let me know what you think and if you want to learn the splats method – patent pending ;0)

Steve Richards